Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin on Friday defended an immigration enforcement operation in New York that resulted in the shooting of a Dominican national, as New York politicians step up pressure on the country’s troubled immigration agencies.
At a news conference, the head of the Department of Homeland Security said an investigation into the actions of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents involved was ongoing, but asserted that the 28-year-old victim of Thursday’s shooting Oscar Belgalwas one of the “worst of the worst”.
Plainclothes ICE agents in the Marble Hill neighborhood of New York stopped Belgal’s vehicle and identified themselves as ICE agents, by Mullinbut Belgal tried to escape. An officer fired Belgium while her 5-year-old son was in the car.
Mullin also protested that New York politicians, including the mayor of New York City Zohran Mamdani and the governor. Kathy Hochulwere not doing enough to help immigration officers.
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