Around 4:00pm in the Bronx on Oct. 8, federal agents in plainclothes shot 28-year-old Oscar Belgal while his 5-year-old son was in the car.
ICE agents approached the car near 2 Marble Hill Ave. in what Police Commissioner Jessica S. Tisch described as a targeted enforcement operation. According to the NYPD, at least one ICE agent fired seven rounds, striking Belgal in the neck.
According to the Office of the Mayor, Mayor Zohran Mamdani spent two hours on the phone with President Donald Trump and DHS Secretary Mullin that night, demanding both a release of Belgal and an end to ICE enforcement in New York City.
“This is an unconscionable and incredibly serious situation,” Mamdani said. “I have called the President; when we speak I will demand that he ends all ICE enforcement actions in our city. I will not stand by while ICE agents terrorize our communities.”
ICE has conducted more than 19,500 arrests in New York State during President Trump’s second term. Arrests in New York and New Jersey combined are more than double the arrests made in the prior 18-month period under President Joe Biden.
"This wasn't an outlier or an aberration," said New York City Public Advocate Jumanne D. Williams in a statement. "This is fully in line with ICE's mission of terrorizing immigrant communities."
In a press conference held by Mamdani and Tisch near the scene of the shooting that evening, Tisch described the ICE agents as wearing “various forms of attire, including some in construction-style vests, face masks and at least one carrying a long gun.”
Some federal agents, however, stood by the use of force. The New York Times reported that the homeland security secretary defended the agents’ actions.
Tisch stated that the NYPD had “no involvement in the federal operation prior to the shooting.”
The Mayor noted that the shooting took place in a heavily residential neighborhood. “These actions are making the city less safe,” he said. “They are making New Yorkers terrified."
After the shooting, Belgal was taken to New York-Presbyterian Allen Hospital in stable condition. The child is now safe with family.
Belgal has now been transferred by federal authorities to New Jersey, but his lawyers are unaware of where exactly he is being held, according to Paige Austin, attorney for Make the Road New York.
