‘Anybody can catch that bullet’: Why the ICE shooting of a New York father hits close to home

The shooting of Oscar Belgal raises concerns over ICE tactics in New York City, a place where over 3 million immigrant residents call home.

On Thursday, a father picking up his 5-year-old son was shot by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers in New York City. After picking up his son from school, 28-year-old Oscar Belgal, a Dominican immigrant, found himself in the middle of what the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) describes as a “targeted enforcement operation,” where ICE agents surrounded his car in Marble Hill. 

According to multiple reports, agents disguised in masks and construction gear shot at Belgal’s vehicle multiple times while his son was in the car. While many were outraged by agents opening fire at a car with a child inside, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin claims ICE officers did not know a child was in the car at the time of the incident, per the Washington Post.

While his son was not injured in the shooting, Belgal suffered a gunshot wound to the neck that officials say he is expected to survive. The shooting, which took place in broad daylight near a school, sparked outrage amongst community members. According to New York City police commissioner Jessica Tisch, the New York Police Department was not present at the time of the shooting and responded to calls of shots fired. Hours later, hundreds of New Yorkers were seen protesting ICE agents’ presence in the city. 

“Today’s shooting is only further devastating confirmation of what we have long known, which is that ICE operates with impunity, that they sow chaos and terror across our country, that they have killed far more of our neighbors than they could ever have claimed to save,” Mamdani said in a press conference that evening. 

“I am almost sure that tomorrow morning they [ICE] are going to try to make the gentlemen they shot [seem] like the worst human being you ever heard of,” New York City public advocate Jumaane Williams added during that press conference. “But I want you to know that a father picking up his child was shot by a rogue agency controlled by Donald Trump.” 

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And as Williams predicted, shortly after the shooting, DHS released a statement claiming they were looking to detain a “criminal illegal alien” with a history of other arrests and alleged gang affiliation. Similarly, in a press conference the day after the shooting, Mullin described Belgal as a “criminal, a thug, a gang banger.” 

“He knew he had a child in the car and chose to accelerate at a high-rate of speed,” Mullin said, per the Washington Post. “He’s a criminal, a thug, a gang banger. The outrage should be with him endangering a 5-year-old.”  

This is not the first time ICE agents have been reported to have used excessive force on community members. Earlier this year, three U.S. citizens died at the hands of ICE agents: Keith Porter, Alex Pretti, and Renee Good. However, Belgal shooting marks one of the first time an incident like this has reached New York City.

ICE’s increased presence in the city especially raises concerns, as New York is home to one of the largest immigrant populations in the U.S. According to a June 2026 study, foreign-born New Yorkers make up more than one-third of the city’s population (3.1 million) and 43% of its workforce.

“Immigrant New Yorkers are writing the future of this city every day. From the neighborhoods they have built to the small businesses that have opened, from the languages they speak to the communities they sustain, immigrants make New York the city that it is,” Mamdani said of the city’s immigrant communities. 

Often seen as a melting pot of cultures, New York City has long been a safe space for immigrant communities from around the world to settle, raise families, and build lives and careers. While Mayor Mamdani and other New York elected officials, including Gov. Kathy Hochul, have called for ICE agents to cease operations in the state, Mullin says the agency will not do so. 

“We’re not putting a pause on enforcement,” he said. “I’m sorry, we’re not. In fact, I’m not sorry.” 

For New York City Public Advocate Williams, the purpose of ICE’s tactics is to incite “fear, chaos, intimidation, and bias” within the city, which is why he urges everyone, regardless of their race, background, and political party, to “stand up.” 

“Your skin color will not protect you. 
Your money will not protect you, because bullets do not have a name on it. There were multiple shots fired at 4 p.m., while people were picking up their children. Anybody can catch that bullet,” he told community members during the press conference. “I am going to ask folks to be nonviolent, but do not be silent. Be as loud and make them as uncomfortable as humanly possible. Do not let them come into your neighborhood and kidnap our community just like that.”

He concluded: “Those of us who have more privilege, we must take more risk to protect those who don’t. The people who are still sitting on the sidelines, get up!”