Federal Judge Temporarily Blocks Deportation of Man Shot by ICE in NYC

A 5-year-old boy was in the car when the man was shot, authorities said. An Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer shot and wounded a man in a residential New York City neighborhood on Thursday afternoon during what the agency described as a "targeted enforcement operation." New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani stated that the man was in a vehicle with a 5-year-old child at the time of the incident. "School had just gotten out. The street was crowded with families and children. When the ICE agent opened fire, a 5-year-old child ... was in the back seat of the car," Mamdani said during a press conference on Thursday night. "Thank God that child is physically unharmed." New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch reported that the 28-year-old man who was shot was taken to the hospital with a gunshot wound to the neck and was in stable condition. She noted that the boy, believed to be the man's son, was safe and in the care of a family member. The shooting occurred around 4 p.m. ET in the upper Manhattan neighborhood of Marble Hill, according to the NYPD. During a news conference on Friday, Marcos Charles, the executive associate director for enforcement and removal operations at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), stated that ICE officers attempted to arrest the suspect, Oscar Belgal, a Dominican national with an ICE detainer, and used their vehicles to block him. Charles claimed that Belgal has alleged associations with the Trinitarios gang and has a prior criminal conviction for grand larceny, along with multiple prior arrests for assault, robbery, possession of drugs, and weapons possession. He also alleged that the gang was involved in a shooting of a Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officer two years ago and that Belgal had knowledge of the incident. Charles alleged that Belgal "weaponized his vehicle" and crashed it into ICE vehicles. "Our officers, using their training, and believing that their life and the life of their partners and the general public were in danger, fired weapons," Charles said. Belgal was struck in the neck, and ICE agents rendered aid before he was transported to the hospital. He was later moved to a detention facility outside New York, according to Charles, who stated that DHS would pursue several criminal charges. "We will continue to place him in removal proceedings, and we will continue to try to remove him from this country as quickly as possible following his charges," he said. When asked about the child in the car, DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin stated that ICE officers were not aware the 5-year-old was in the car during the stop and blamed Belgal for putting the child in that situation. "The focus on what took place is absolutely absurd," he said. Officers were wearing body-worn cameras, and Mullin indicated that the cameras were activated. He did not commit to releasing the footage and mentioned that there is a joint FBI and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) investigation into the shooting. Attorneys for Belgal filed a habeas petition on his behalf a day after the shooting, leading a federal judge to temporarily block his deportation. Judge J. Paul Oetken ruled that to preserve the Southern District of New York’s jurisdiction while he considers the petition, he barred the government from deporting or transferring Belgal outside of the Southern District, Eastern District of New York, or the District of New Jersey. The order will remain in effect unless modified by the judge. At the press conference, Tisch noted that the man who was shot has two prior arrests in New York City, including one for robbery in 2023, for which he pleaded guilty to grand larceny, and another in 2025 for the criminal sale of a controlled substance, which is still pending. Tisch stated that the NYPD, which was not involved in the shooting, responded to the scene afterward and found several men in various forms of attire, including some in construction-style vests and at least one carrying a long gun. When officers arrived, the man who was shot was handcuffed and seated on the ground before NYPD officers placed him in one of their vehicles, rendered aid, and took him to the hospital. Evidence collected from the scene indicated that at least one ICE agent fired seven rounds, with ballistic damage to the windshield of the man's vehicle and the back window also shattered. The moments leading up to the shooting were captured on NYPD surveillance cameras, which showed the man backing into a parking spot before a plainclothes federal law enforcement officer approached the driver's side door with his gun drawn. Another plainclothes officer approached by the driver's side headlight. The vehicle then started to drive away and went out of camera view. An ICE vehicle had damage to the front panel, and the lower panel was fully disconnected. The NYPD released body camera footage of their officers responding to the scene after the shooting, showing the suspect sitting on the street as he was treated for his wound, with bystanders shouting at the federal officers. At the press conference, Mamdani mentioned that he spent two hours on the phone with President Donald Trump and Mullin seeking to negotiate the release of the man who was shot, but his efforts were unsuccessful. In a statement late Thursday night, New York Governor Kathy Hochul said she had also spoken with Trump and the DHS secretary about the shooting, expressing outrage on behalf of New Yorkers and urging them to halt ICE enforcement operations in New York. She also requested that any body camera footage of the shooting be released to the public to establish the facts.