Judge blocks deportation of man shot by ICE in New York
Court bars removal of Oscar Belgal, wounded by ICE agent with his 5-year-old son in car, as officials demand shooting footage
NEW YORK (MNTV) — A federal judge has temporarily blocked the deportation of Oscar Belgal, the 28-year-old shot by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent during an attempted arrest in the Marble Hill neighbourhood of Upper Manhattan while his five-year-old son sat in the car, as the Oct. 8 shooting drew protests and demands for an independent investigation.
U.S. District Judge J. Paul Oetken’s emergency order bars the government from deporting Belgal, a Dominican national, while his habeas corpus petition proceeds, and restricts ICE from moving him out of the New York area without court approval; he is held at the federal jail in Brooklyn.
An agent fired seven shots, striking Belgal in the neck, according to law-enforcement accounts cited by CBS News; his son was unharmed.
Governor Kathy Hochul said the boy was nonetheless traumatised and had stopped speaking.
Federal officials defended the shooting.
A senior ICE official, Marcos Charles, said agents believed their lives were in danger, and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said agents did not know a child was in the vehicle, describing Belgal as “a thug” and “the absolute worst of the worst.”
DHS has alleged Belgal has ties to the Trinitarios, a Dominican criminal group, and links to a prior assault on a border officer — claims that publicly available evidence has not independently established. Belgal has prior arrests, including a 2023 misdemeanour larceny guilty plea and a pending 2025 drug case.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani sharply criticised Mullin, saying federal agents “view the law as a suggestion” and noting that city police face strict limits on firing at moving vehicles.
He said the footage so far showed bystanders unable to tell the masked, armed agents from an active shooter, and questioned what warrant authorised the arrest.
His lawyers, at Make the Road New York, say a bullet remains lodged in Belgal’s body. Governor Hochul called for a statewide pause in ICE operations; Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Chuck Schumer demanded the body-camera footage, which ICE has not released, and House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries called the agents’ conduct “rogue.”
NBC and CBS News have documented at least 30 shootings involving Homeland Security officers under the current administration.
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