ICE agents' shooting of a man in NYC provokes fury among city, state officials

New York City and state officials on Friday condemned the shooting of a Dominican man by federal immigration agents, forcefully challenging the agents' tactics in a busy Bronx neighborhood as residents waged a peaceful anti-ICE demonstration in Manhattan that stretched into the evening.

Gov. Kathy Hochul, speaking exclusively to Newsday at its Melville newsroom on Friday afternoon, said she asked President Donald Trump and federal officials to "suspend ICE operations for the time being."

Federal agents on Thursday night opened fire on 28-year-old Oscar Belgal, who they said "weaponized" his vehicle and accelerated into a pair of government vehicles as they attempted to apprehend him. Belgal's 5-year-old son was in the car.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement gave no indication they would honor the governor's request, and alleged Belgal had gang ties, a criminal history and was in the country illegally.

The shooting was the latest confrontation involving federal agents as they carry out operations to apprehend people for deportation under Trump’s aggressive crackdown on immigrants in the country illegally. Federal agents fatally shot two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis earlier this year.

In the runup to re-election, Trump promised to launch an unprecedented and aggressive campaign to apprehend and deport violent criminals in the country illegally, but new polls in New York and across the country show voters increasingly saying the administration has taken the action too far.

Belgal is the first person to be shot in New York since the president's latest enforcement action. 

Federal immigration officials defended the officers' action and cast blame on the driver, who they said "weaponized" his vehicle and accelerated into a pair of government vehicles as they attempted to apprehend him. They took him into custody after the shooting. 

Authorities have not said why they were tracking Belgal in the first place.

Federal officials said the officers were unaware a child was in the vehicle. The child was unharmed, NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said.

Hochul said hearing that shots were fired into a vehicle with a child "violates all training, all precepts of normal law enforcement."

Speaking to reporters outside the courthouse in lower Manhattan, Harold Solis, one of Belgal's attorneys, said he briefly spoke with his client, who is "afraid."

"He's deeply concerned about his 5-year-old son," Solis said. "It was the first thing he asked me, is whether his son is OK."

He also said that Belgal still had a bullet in his body, nearly 24 hours after the shooting.

Bronx District Attorney Darcel D. Clark said on Friday that her office was investigating the shooting.

"My Office is working to establish facts and determine the appropriate course of action," Clark wrote in a statement posted to X. "We will continue to conduct a thorough investigation where our process is guided by the evidence and the law."

The shooting

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, whose agency oversees ICE, referred to Belgal as "thug" and said the agency was not backing down.

"We’re enforcing our nation’s laws. We’re not picking and choosing," Mullin said during a news conference Friday. "Why is that controversial? We should all want law and order on our streets."

Marcos Charles, head of ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations, said Belgal "refused lawful orders to exit his vehicle" and "accelerated his vehicle" to collide into two government vehicles.

Officers, fearing for their safety, then fired their weapons and Belgal was struck by a bullet or fragment "superficially" in the neck, Charles said.

Hochul said criminals who committed violent crimes should not be on the street and local law enforcement will work with federal officials to apprehend someone when there’s a court order or a warrant for an arrest or a crime has been committed.

"This has gone too far," she said. "We have to return our streets back to normalcy."

New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani posted on X Friday afternoon: "Immigrant New Yorkers belong here. ICE does not."

At a news conference Thursday, Mamdani said ICE agents conducted their operation in construction uniforms and masks when "school had just gotten out" and "the street was crowded with families and children."

"The pretext of ICE is, in their words, 'to keep this country safe,' " Mamdani said. "How is it keeping anyone safe to have, as you just heard from the police commissioner, individuals wearing construction vests in masks with long guns?"

Footage released

The shooting occurred about 4 p.m. in the Marble Hill neighborhood in the Bronx, which is officially considered part of Manhattan.

The NYPD released bodycam footage Friday, less than 24 hours after the incident. It shows the first officers arriving on scene but does not show the shooting itself. At least one federal agent holding a long gun at the scene was also wearing a construction vest, the footage shows.

A bloodied Belgal can be seen in the footage as he is being carried by two NYPD officers into a police vehicle and driven to a nearby hospital.

The shooting sparked immediate protests near the scene, with some people holding signs decrying ICE. The damaged car sat blocking the roadway. It had  with small holes in two of its windows.

Thousands of anti-ICE protesters gathered Friday evening in Manhattan's Foley Square, chanting: “We want justice, we want peace, we want ICE off our streets.”

Helicopters flew overhead and the NYPD had dozens of officers stationed around the perimeter. Police followed closely but respectfully as the crowd took to the city’s streets.

The angry but non-violent protest ended by 8 p.m. outside 201 Varick St., outside the federal Varick Immigration Court. The NYPD said no arrests or incidents were reported.

Judge intervenes

A federal judge temporarily blocked Belgal’s deportation, court records show.

United States District Court Judge J. Paul Oetken ordered that Belgal not be removed from the country for the time being. Oetken also barred the government from moving Belgal to any detention facility outside of the Eastern and Southern District or New Jersey.

Lawyers for Make the Road New York, an immigration advocacy group, filed a challenge to Belgal’s detention Thursday.

At a hearing Friday, an assistant U.S. attorney told the court that Belgal was transferred from New Jersey to federal jail in Brooklyn. He had been in New Jersey after being discharged from the hospital, the assistant attorney , Brandon M. Waterman, said.

Belgal's attorney, Paige Austin of Make the Road, told the court that Belgal remains in pain.

"He still has a bullet in his body," the lawyer said.

Waterman agreed not to oppose the emergency order issued earlier prohibiting his removal from the metro area.

Yaritza Mendez, the deputy director of Make the Road, called for a "full investigation" of the shooting.

"These are not officials who have gone rogue, this is an agency that has been armed to the teeth and given an unlimited budget in service of a xenophobic agenda," Mendez said in an emailed statement. "The violence is the point. Terrorizing our families is the point."