Democrats call for Homeland Security Chair Andrew Garbarino to hold hearings on ICE enforcement

WASHINGTON — Democratic demands for full details of the New York City shooting and wounding of a man by U.S. immigration agents while a 5-year-old child was in his car include calls for Long Island GOP Rep. Andrew Garbarino to launch a congressional probe as chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security.

But Republicans, including Congressmembers and gubernatorial candidate Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, responded to the shooting by relaunching their attacks against state and local sanctuary policies, which they say hinder immigration enforcement.

Garbarino (R-Bayport), whose committee has legislative oversight over U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, called for a "full and thorough investigation," but did not respond to questions about whether his committee will open a probe.

"Criminal illegal aliens who pose a threat to our communities should be deported. Our law enforcement officers have a difficult job to do, and I expect a full and thorough investigation into this incident," he said in the statement. A Garbarino spokesman said he was not available for an interview.

The top Democrat on the Homeland Security panel said this incident — which follows the fatal shootings in January by federal agents of two protesters in Minnesota — should prompt committee hearings specifically on those events, and other ICE actions and encounters that critics have called overly aggressive.

"Chairman Garbarino should hold hearings on U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and these repeated and tragic shootings, but sadly he hasn’t held an immigration hearing in months," Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, told Newsday in an emailed statement. "Regardless of who sits in the Oval Office, we cannot abdicate Congress’s oversight role."

Meanwhile, Garbarino’s fellow Long Island Rep. Nick LaLota (R-Amityville), said in a statement Friday that some blame should go to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani because banning cooperation agreements between U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and local law enforcement increases the danger of encounters.

LaLota said many may second-guess the officer’s decisions, with the benefit of slow-motion video footage and replay, "But one thing is clear today: Hochul and Mamdani should repeal their sanctuary policies, which make illegal immigration enforcement more dangerous for the public, officers, and arrestees," he said.

The shooting Thursday of the 28-year-old man, whom city police identified as Oscar Belgal, occurred while he was in his car with a child in the Marble Hill neighborhood of New York City. He survived and was treated for a neck wound at a hospital. The Homeland Security Department said Belgal was a gang member from the Dominican Republic in the country illegally and its agents had been seeking to make an arrest.

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin added in a news conference that the agent and other officers weren’t aware the 5-year-old child was in the car, but that, "Oscar chose to accelerate at a high rate of speed and ram two different vehicles as it appears he was going toward officers."

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Democrats from Long Island were among those who called for an investigation.

Garbarino’s Democratic challenger in the Nov. 3 election, former Suffolk County Executive Patrick Halpin said Garbarino should launch his own committee investigation, and claimed he’s fallen short up to this point.

Garbarino has held committee hearings with ICE and other DHS officials since the January fatal shootings of Renée Good and Alex Pretti during Minnesota protests against an immigration enforcement crackdown earlier this year. Other incidents since include an ICE agent shooting and killing a Maine motorist, and another fatal shooting by an ICE officer in July.

Democrats, however, noted the hearings in February and June with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other federal homeland security officials did not focus strictly on the shootings. To date, Garbarino's committee has not produced a report of its own into the incidents. 

His Democratic challenger, Halpin, said in a statement Friday that the shooting was an example of ICE's poor training "and reckless disregard for public safety."

LaLota’s Democratic opponent this election, Chris Gallant of Amity Harbor, said, "ICE is out of control, and operating far outside of the scope of its mission... These operations must be reigned in immediately."

Schumer, in a statement, said, "For months, I’ve warned that ICE’s increasingly aggressive tactics put lives at risk. That’s why Senate Democrats fought for enforceable safeguards holding ICE agents to the same standards as other law enforcement officers."

He said DHS must ensure a full, independent investigation. "When excessive force is used, there must be accountability. No one is above the law," he said.

New York's junior senator, Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) similarly said in a statement, "It is critical that all the facts are brought to light, and I expect a thorough and transparent review of exactly what transpired."

Rep. Tom Suozzi, (D-Glen Cove), called on lawmakers from both parties to "move beyond election time sound bites and work together to protect public safety.

"Individuals convicted of serious violent crimes should be deported under applicable law," Suozzi said in a statement. But he added that ICE agents needed to receive at least six months of rigorous training.
Rep. Laura Gillen (D-Rockville Centre) said in a statement that, “New Yorkers deserve a thorough, transparent investigation into this shooting” and also called for new “guardrails” on ICE activities. “A lack of training and accountability for ICE is putting our communities in danger,” she said.

Gillen’s Republican opponent, Jeanine Driscoll, the Hempstead Town Receiver of Taxes, cited Belgal’s alleged gang ties as a reason to repeal so-called sanctuary policies that limit cooperation between local agencies and federal immigration agents.

“New York’s sanctuary policies put lives in danger and are responsible for this incident,” Driscoll said. “This is another wake up call for Governor Hochul, Mayor Mamdani and Laura Gillen that they must do their jobs and repeal the sanctuary policies they put in place to keep New Yorkers safe.”

There was no response to requests for comment on the shooting from Suozzi's Republican opponent, Michael LiPetri, a former assemblyman.