Tags:
A federal immigration arrest in the Bronx ended in gunfire Thursday afternoon. By evening, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani was on the phone with President Trump, demanding that ICE stop all enforcement in the city. He didn’t get it.
🚨 MAMDANI SPENT TWO HOURS TRYING TO FREE THE GUY ICE SHOT 🚨 DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin and President Trump. Two-hour call. NYC Mayor Mamdani and Governor Hochul. After the ICE-involved shooting. Mullin says Mamdani was unreasonable the whole time. Trying to get ICE to back down. Never. Trump was cordial. Praised the NYPD. The illegal alien’s record, per Mullin: Robbery. Felony assault. Felony larceny. Weapons assault. Weapons possession. Felony dangerous drugs. Linked to a violent gang. The mayor wanted him fully released back on the streets. Mamdani said it himself that night — he spent two hours negotiating the release. Where was that energy when an NYPD detective got slashed? Thank God Trump and Mullin said no.
— Unmask The SYS (@UnmaskTheSys) October 10, 2026
The shooting is under investigation, and some key facts are still disputed. But the case has quickly become the latest clash between a sanctuary city and federal law.
Selective outrage? NYC Mayor Mamdani called the recent ICE shooting ‘unconscionable’ & ‘an outrage,’ claiming the agency is ‘rotten to its core.’ Yet, he remained silent when a 15 yr-old was shot & killed in random violence just the night before. https://t.co/tUNFkOJoo5
— David E. Smith ن 🇺🇸 (@ProFamilyIL) October 10, 2026
What happened
Around 4 p.m. on October 8, federal agents were “conducting a targeted enforcement operation” in the Marble Hill section of the Bronx to take a man in a gray vehicle into custody, police said, according to Time.
Police said a plainclothes agent approached the driver’s window with his gun drawn, and the vehicle then moved forward. At least one ICE agent fired seven rounds, striking the driver in the neck.
Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch identified the man as 28-year-old Oscar Belgal. A 5-year-old boy, believed to be his son, was with him. Belgal was taken to the hospital in stable condition, and the child was unharmed and is with family, Time reported.
Who ICE says he is
The Department of Homeland Security described the target as an illegal immigrant from the Dominican Republic with a prior grand larceny conviction and multiple prior arrests, including for assault, robbery, drug possession and weapons possession, according to FOX 5 NY. DHS said he has ties to the Trinitarios gang.
Anti-ICE protesters have STORMED the streets of NYC to protest ICE after an agent sh*t an illegal immigrant.. According to Homeland Security, he’s an illegal immigrant from the Dominican Republic with a grand larceny conviction, prior arrests for assault, robbery, dr*g possession and weapons possession, and ties to the Trinitarios gang. The NYPD already had him in custody back in December 2023, and the city let him walk a few DAYS later. The protesters blocked an intersection outside the hospital, shoved police barricades, and threw water bottles at officers trying to keep the road open for ambulances. Zohran Mamdani called the shooting "unconscionable" and says he’s DEMANDING President Trump end ALL ICE enforcement in New York — and of course he didn’t say a word about the illegal’s criminal record.
— TEN TV (@OmaDiamond) October 10, 2026
Anti-ICE protesters have STORMED the streets of NYC to protest ICE after an agent sh*t an illegal immigrant.. According to Homeland Security, he’s an illegal immigrant from the Dominican Republic with a grand larceny conviction, prior arrests for assault, robbery, dr*g possession and weapons possession, and ties to the Trinitarios gang. The NYPD already had him in custody back in December 2023, and the city let him walk a few DAYS later.
Tisch’s account of his record was narrower: a 2023 robbery arrest that ended in a guilty plea to fourth-degree grand larceny and five years’ probation, plus a 2025 arrest for criminal sale of a controlled substance that is still pending.
DHS said the NYPD arrested him on December 7, 2023, and released him days later, which it blamed on “sanctuary policies.”
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said Friday that ICE believed Belgal had knowledge of the shooting of an off-duty Customs and Border Protection officer, and that ICE had tried and failed to detain him in September. Mullin said the officers wore body cameras, that footage exists, and that information would be released as the investigation moves forward, Time reported.
The FBI and Homeland Security Investigations are on the case.
Mamdani’s demand
Mamdani called it an “unconscionable and incredibly serious situation.” On X, he wrote: “Get ICE out of our neighborhoods. Get ICE out of our hospitals. Get ICE off our streets.”
After roughly two hours on the phone with Trump and Mullin, the mayor said he had not been able to negotiate Belgal’s release. “There is no explanation for federal officers firing this many rounds into a car that has a 5-year-old,” he said.
Mullin, in turn, accused Mamdani of “inciting hostilities” against federal officers. The White House pointed to a DHS statement criticizing New York’s “sanctuary politicians.”
Gov. Kathy Hochul and Sen. Chuck Schumer called for answers, and Schumer urged release of the body camera footage.
The bottom line
A shooting with a child in the car is serious, and the public deserves the full facts. Mullin says the body camera footage exists. Releasing it quickly is the best way to settle what happened, and the best answer to anyone using this case to smear the officers who do this job.
But look at how this arrest ended up on a city street in the first place. By DHS’s account, the NYPD had this man in custody in 2023 and let him go. Sanctuary rules that block cooperation with ICE don’t stop deportations. They push arrests out of jails, where they are safe and controlled, and onto sidewalks and into traffic, where they are not.
Mamdani’s answer is to end all ICE enforcement in America’s largest city. That is not a serious policy, and federal immigration law does not stop at the city line. If the mayor wants fewer confrontations like this one, the solution is to hand dangerous suspects to ICE at the jailhouse door.