Key Takeaways
- New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani says President Trump agreed Saturday to grant a visa to the mother of Javits Frimpong, the Ghanaian teen killed in the Bronx.
- Mamdani announced the news on X after a phone call with Trump, writing that Frimpong's mother "deserves to say goodbye to her son in person."
- Javits Frimpong moved from Ghana to the Bronx a year earlier to join his father, Thomas Frimpong, according to Rep. Ritchie Torres, a Bronx Democrat.
- Ghana Foreign Minister Sam Okudzeto Ablakwa says Ghanaian diplomats in New York are working with local officials and will press U.S. authorities to ensure justice is secured.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani says President Trump has agreed to grant a visa to the mother of Javits Frimpong, the teen from Ghana killed in the Bronx, so she can say goodbye to her son in person.
Mamdani shared the news Saturday (Oct. 31) on X, writing that he had just hung up after speaking with the president. His post read:
"The murder of a child is a pain no parent should have to endure, let alone from thousands of miles away. Javits Frimpong's mother deserves to say goodbye to her son in person. I just got off the phone with President Trump and he has agreed to grant her visa immediately."
In the same message, the mayor wrote that the entire city is grieving the loss.
Javits had moved from Ghana to the Bronx a year earlier, joining his father in hopes of building a new life in the United States, per Rep. Ritchie Torres, a Bronx Democrat.
His father, Thomas Frimpong, recalled hearing from the school's principal that two students had been bothering his son, and that both had been suspended. He said he then phoned Javits to check on him.
"It was the principal who told me. He said two guys are disturbing my son so he has suspended the two guys. My son is at school. He's innocent, so I call him. I talk with my son, he said 'dad, I'm OK.'"
Ghana's government is also watching the case. Foreign Minister Sam Okudzeto Ablakwa said on X that Ghana's diplomats in New York are working with local officials, and he made a pledge to the family.
His ministry, he wrote, "will work tirelessly with U.S. authorities to ensure justice is secured."
