Caribbean Immigrant Shot By ICE Agent In New York City

By News Americas Now Staff Writer

News Americas Now, NY, NY, Fri. Oct. 9, 2026: A federal immigration agent shot and wounded a Dominican immigrant in the Marble Hill section of New York City on Thursday afternoon, in an incident that drew immediate condemnation from Gov. Kathy Hochul and Mayor Zohran Mamdani and has reignited scrutiny of ICE’s escalating enforcement tactics under the Trump administration.

According to The New York Times and ABC News, the shooting occurred around 4 p.m. as Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents attempted to arrest Oscar Belgal, 28, while he sat in a car with his 5-year-old son in the back seat. Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said a preliminary investigation found that at least one ICE agent fired seven rounds at the vehicle, striking Belgal in the neck below his left ear. The child was not physically injured and was later placed in a family member’s care.

The Department of Homeland Security said the shooting happened as agents tried to arrest an undocumented immigrant with a criminal record, but did not explain why the agent opened fire or whether he was aware a child was in the car. DHS said Belgal, who is from the Dominican Republic, has a grand larceny conviction and a pending drug case, and claimed he had previously been arrested in New York in December 2023 but released due to the city’s sanctuary policies.

Protesters gather near the scene where a man was shot by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer during an operation in the Bronx borough of New York on October 8, 2026, according to local media and police. (Photo by CHARLY TRIBALLEAU / AFP via Getty Images)

Mayor Mamdani, visibly angered at a news conference near the scene, called the shooting “an outrage” and said a traumatized 5-year-old was left wondering, along with “millions of our neighbors,” whether they would be safe in their own city. The mayor said he spent two hours on the phone with President Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin attempting to negotiate Belgal’s release from custody – without success. ICE agents ultimately placed Belgal, who was taken to a nearby hospital, into an unmarked vehicle and removed him from the scene.

Gov. Hochul said she, too, spoke directly with Trump and Mullin, telling reporters she “expressed outrage on behalf of New Yorkers” and urged a halt to ICE enforcement operations in the city. She has requested the release of any body-camera footage from the shooting.

The incident is part of a sharp escalation in ICE activity across New York State, where arrests climbed from 927 in May to 1,193 in June and 1,567 in July, according to federal data compiled by the Deportation Data Project. Nationally, at least two dozen people have been shot at by federal immigration agents since Trump returned to office in January 2025, with six killed, including three U.S. citizens, the Times reported.

Witnesses described chaotic scenes in the aftermath. Bystander Viely Herrera told the Times she saw the vehicle crash into a concrete barrier and a crying child in the back seat, and said officers would not allow a woman at the scene to take the boy. By evening, protesters had gathered both at the shooting site and outside NewYork-Presbyterian Allen Hospital, chanting against ICE’s presence in the city; at least one person was taken into custody after scuffles with police.

The shooting is believed to be the first by ICE within New York City since 2020.

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