Lawyers argue man shot by ICE in Marble Hill should be released

Lawyers for the man shot in the neck by federal immigration agents during his arrest in Marble Hill Thursday night are demanding his release — joined by a chorus of similar demands from city leaders, including Mayor Zohran Mamdani.

And Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark vowed that his office would continue to investigate Thursday’s shooting of 28-year-old Oscar Belgal — which federal authorities say occurred when Belgal “cocked his vehicle” by speeding his vehicle toward ICE vehicles and agents during a law enforcement operation.

City Hall spokesman Sam Raskin said the NYPD and the mayor’s office would also review “all events of the past 24 hours, including the ICE shooting; the police department’s response to this incident and the subsequent protest; the organization of ICE operations in private parking lots; and every step the city can take to protect New Yorkers from the terror of ICE. »

The incident marks a turning point for New York City, which had been largely spared the type of violence that accompanied the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in cities like Minneapolis and Los Angeles. Belgal’s 5-year-old son was in the backseat at the time of the shooting, according to his lawyers, although DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin said agents did not know the boy was there. The NYPD said the child was not injured and was with a family member.

“Obviously he’s scared,” Harold Solis of the immigrant rights group Make the Road said at a news conference Friday after a habeas corpus hearing — a proceeding to decide whether detaining a person is legal — for Belgal. “He is deeply worried about his 5-year-old son. The first thing he asked me was if his son was okay.”

Belgal’s family remained there, but did not speak to the media.

The feds said in court Friday that Belgal was being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn. Belgal’s attorney, Paige Austin, said she spoke briefly with her client on the phone and that he was in pain and still had a bullet in his body.

The hearing was otherwise procedural. Since it is unclear where Belgal was at the time his petition was filed, the main question is which court has jurisdiction over the case. His lawyers said they plan to update the motion soon and will notify the judge early next week whether they will ask that the case be stayed in the Southern District of New York.

Government lawyers said they were still waiting for more information from Immigration and Customs Enforcement about the reasons for Belgal’s detention. Earlier in the day, DHS officials said he was transferred out of state after his arrest, and Belgal’s lawyers said they did not know where he was at the time.

Before the hearing, a U.S. district court judge ordered that Belgal not be deported and barred the government from transferring him except to a facility in New Jersey or the two federal court districts covering New York City and its surrounding counties.

The incident poses a major test for Mayor Zohran Mamdani. Even as he called for the abolition of ICE, his own police department clashed with protesters who had gathered near the scene Thursday evening. Protesters called the mayor an accomplice, and on Friday Darializa Avila Chevalier, the Mamdani-backed Democratic candidate for the congressional seat that includes Marble Hill, called on Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch to resign.

New Yorkers outraged by the incident took part in a peaceful protest in lower Manhattan on Friday.

Dozens of people in the crowd at Foley Square held signs and chanted slogans as immigration activists took the stage to publicly denounce Thursday’s shooting.

“We want ICE off our streets. We want justice, we want peace,” protesters chanted as they marched on Sixth Avenue.

Speaking Friday morning at ICE headquarters in Washington, Mullin and other administration officials said agents had no choice but to open fire. They placed the blame on Belgal and New York City’s sanctuary policy.

Marcos Charles, a senior ICE official, said the agents used their vehicles to block Belgal’s vehicle. He said Belgal refused orders to exit his vehicle and then accelerated, crashing into two ICE vehicles before speeding toward other agents.

Video released by New York police Friday afternoon shows Belgal’s vehicle parked along a sidewalk. A man in civilian clothes and a red cap approaches the car with a drawn handgun as the vehicle is reversing. Another man in civilian clothes with a black cap enters the frame closer to the front corner of the vehicle and also draws his gun as the vehicle moves forward. As the vehicle moves from the rear to the front, the man in the red cap appears to punch and break the driver’s side window, before it exits the frame.

Another video, from a different angle, shows bystanders in the area before many of them throw themselves to the ground or run away. Several men, some brandishing guns, then run out of sight and off-screen down the street. Later, a man with a neon yellow vest and a long gun rushes to the scene, apparently the same man photographed shortly after the scene in a photo and cellphone video previously provided to Gothamist by neighbors.

Tisch said at a news conference Thursday evening that at least one ICE agent shot Belgal multiple times. Police recovered seven shell casings from the scene. Tisch added that the New York Police Department was not involved in the immigration operation that led to the shooting and that no city officers were present at the scene when ICE agents opened fire.

The NYPD released body camera footage showing officers responding to the shooting and transporting Belgal to the hospital. The footage begins with two unidentified police officers arriving at the scene, where Belgal is seen sitting in the street, handcuffed, surrounded by ICE agents and bleeding from his neck.

One of the officers can be heard saying “he has a gun” before getting out of his NYPD vehicle. The NYPD officer did not specify who he was referring to, but a federal immigration agent holding a rifle can be seen in the video. Belgal is not seen with a weapon in the video, and DHS did not describe him as armed in its account of the encounter.

The officers at the scene appear to be in plain clothes and their vehicles, as seen in this video, do not appear to have obvious law enforcement markings.

The NYPD officers ultimately decided to take Belgal to a nearby hospital in their police cruiser rather than wait any longer for an ambulance to arrive. Several officers then picked up Belgal, loaded him into the back of their black SUV and drove him to NewYork-Presbyterian Allen Hospital.

ICE agents have been criticized in the past for shooting at moving vehicles, including in the fatal shooting of Renee Good in Minneapolis on January 7. Policing experts generally suggest officers refrain from shooting at moving vehicles, and most large police departments, including the New York Police Department, prohibit the practice. The US Department of Justice has also warned against the practice.

Mullin said immigration authorities targeted Belgal because he is an undocumented immigrant from the Dominican Republic and because agents believed he had “direct or indirect” knowledge of a recent shooting of a federal Customs and Border Protection agent. Mullin also claimed Belgal was associated with a gang.

Belgal has a prior criminal conviction in New York for fourth-degree robbery, Tisch said Thursday evening. He was sentenced to five years of probation.

Mamdani and other city leaders condemned ICE’s action and renewed calls for the federal government to end immigration enforcement efforts in the city. ICE, the mayor said, “has killed more of our neighbors than they claim to save.”

Mullin reprimanded Mamdani for his remarks.

“His words are dangerous and incite hostility,” Mullin said.

Mamdani said he spoke with President Donald Trump and Mullin after the shooting and requested Belgal’s release, but those negotiations failed and Belgal was taken from the hospital by ICE.

Giulia Heyward contributed to this story. This story has been updated to correct a typo.