Was the guy shot by ICE in NYC a law abiding dude?

This doesn't fit into a neat narrative. The guy shot was a real criminal (see below). Bad guy who shouldn't be on the street. That's doesn't mean ICE handled this well however.

"ICE said Belgal’s criminal record includes a criminal conviction for grand larceny and arrests for assault, robbery, possession of drugs and weapons possession.

Belgal has two arrests in New York City, according to the NYPD. One arrest was robbery in 2023, after which he pleaded guilty to fourth-degree grand larceny and received five years probation. The other arrest was for the criminal sale of a controlled substance in 2025, which is pending."

‘Criminal illegal’ migrant shot by ICE has rap sheet of alarming crimes — and is ‘absolutely not’ a New Yorker: neighbors

By Josh Christenson, Joe Marino, Amanda Woods and Alex Oliveira, NY Post

Published Oct. 9, 2026, 10:06 p.m. ET

The Dominican Republic native shot by ICE agents in The Bronx was a migrant with an alarming rap sheet — who apparently benefited from New York’s lax bail and sanctuary laws, allowing him to remain on the streets, according to sources and court records.

Oscar Belgal, 28, is believed to have entered the US illegally around 2022, robbed someone at gunpoint in Fordham Heights a year later, allegedly sold dangerous drugs within months of his conviction in 2025 and was even allegedly connected to a violent street gang.

None of that stopped Mayor Zohran Mamdani from referring to Belgal as “a New Yorker” in a raging tribute Thursday against US Immigration and Customs Enforcement — a label some Bronx locals took offense to.

“I don’t consider him a New Yorker,” fumed Bronx mom Migdalia Martinez, whose 12-year-old son Jacob Freytas was killed in gangland crossfire while riding his bike in July.

“The only thing I do consider him as is trash, nothing else but trash. And I don’t consider New York, my home, as trash,” she told The Post Friday.

Asked if Mamdani was wrong to call Belgal a New Yorker, Martinez said: “The mayor is wrong in many ways — that’s definitely one.”

Martinez’ son was tragically struck by a stray bullet in Mt. Eden, known Trinitarios territory, and authorities said they suspected the vicious gang was involved in the violence.

US Department of Homeland Security officials have said the same gang was involved in the July 2025 shooting of an off-duty CBP officer at Fort Washington Park — and that they were investigating alleged links to Belgal when they approached him Thursday.

Security footage showed plainclothes ICE agents rushing Belgal’s parked car in Marble Hill at around 4 p.m. with guns drawn, before he peeled away, and out of the view of the CCTV cameras.

Marcos Charles, the head of ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations division, said Belgal “accelerated” at the agents, “smashing” into two of them.

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin confirmed the ICE agents were wearing body-worn cameras, but the feds didn’t immediately release the footage.

Federal sources said it’s believed Belgal slipped into the US with a migrant caravan in 2022 without encountering border patrol.

By December 2023, he’d been arrested for the armed robbery a month prior, according to authorities and court records.

Belgal was driving with two people in the backseat along Morris Avenue, when he turned and pointed a gun at them while demanding “give me your jewelry or I will shoot you,” according to the criminal complaint.

The victims handed over jewelry and about $500 cash, and Belgal was later caught — but then released without bail pending trial, records showed.

He pleaded guilty to a lesser rap of fourth-degree grand larceny in April 2025, with the deal landing him a mere month in jail and five years probation when he was sentenced in January, officials said.

That brush with the law apparently did little to reform Belgal — just months after his conviction he was arrested again in August 2025, this time for allegedly selling dangerous drugs like fentanyl, cocaine and heroin in a case that remains open.

Those drug charges were not bail-eligible — meaning Belgal was sprung after his arrest — but prosecutors requested and were granted the highest level of “supervised release,” law enforcement sources said.

But federal sources said detention detainer order was issued for Belgal after his arrest, meaning ICE requested he be handed over to the agency by local authorities — an ask that wasn’t honored.

Mullin said New York’s sanctuary laws — which largely bar local cooperation with federal immigration authorities — prevented them from catching Belgal, and endangered Americans.

“Sanctuary politicians create an environment for criminal activity to thrive, not for American citizens to be safe,” he said. “When you have sanctuary cities and politicians, you endanger the safety of the public.”

Belgal was back behind bars — this time in federal custody — Friday after an ICE agent shot him in the neck during the attempted arrest where he tried to drive off in his Honda SUV with his 5-year-old son in the backseat.

Intense bodycam footage from the NYPD showed cops rushing to the scene and finding ICE agents tending to the wounded Belgal, while his terrified son screamed in the background.

Seven bullets smashed through the car’s front, side and rear windows, but Belgal survived the injury and was rushed to a hospital. His son was physically unharmed and is now in the care of family.

It was the second time ICE had attempted to arrest Belgal — the agency tried in September, but officials said he managed to flee and get away.

His shooting sparked widespread outrage from lefty New York pols and anti-ICE protesters, who swarmed NewYork-Presbyterian Allen Hospital, where cops brought Belgal in the aftermath — before he was swept away by the feds in a car.

“A New Yorker was shot by ICE agents in Marble Hill,” the mayor told reporters. “ICE agents surrounded the man’s vehicle before opening fire. They wore construction vests and masks that concealed their faces. There was no reasonable way to identify them as ICE agents.

“You are hearing from New Yorkers right now — anguish, pain, anger — at the fact that here in this city, the world’s city, immigrants have to wake up every morning and not know if they can live the lives that they should be able to live,” he fumed.

But not every New Yorker shared the mayor’s views — including one of Belgal’s Upper Manhattan neighbors, who answered with a staunch “No” when asked if she considered him a New Yorker.

“Absolutely not. That’s one of the reasons I think we should vote blue out,” former neighbor Mora Rodriguez told The Post.

“What’s going on with the legal system, the jail, letting these people go after they have a whole list of convictions. This is a criminal. Why would you let this person out?” said Rodriguez, a longtime and elderly resident of Belgal’s old Inwood building. “These judges are very radical. We gotta vote red. That’s what I can say to you.”

Belgal was released from the hospital and sent to the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn after a court hearing seeking his release Friday.

His name was bafflingly different across various court documents and agencies — which alternatively listed him as Belgal, Bengal or Bergal.

Mullin said Belgal was being eyed by the feds over the shooting that injured the off-duty CBP officer, claiming he was believed to have “direct or indirect knowledge” of the crime.

That shooting was carried out by two illegal immigrants from the Dominican Republic, one of whom was sentenced to 15 years in prison on Monday. Law-enforcement sources said Belgal’s name and contact was in the phone of one of the suspects in that shooting, prompting ICE to seek him out.

DHS Secretary Criticizes New York Mayor After ICE Shooting Sparks Protests

Federal officers fired at a 28-year-old man in a car with a 5-year-old child, officials say

By Joseph De Avila, Jack Morphet and Joseph Pisani, WSJ

Updated Oct. 9, 2026

New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani condemned the shooting of a man by a federal immigration officer during an arrest Thursday, as the incident sparked protests in the city. Photo: Charly Triballeau/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin on Friday lashed out at New York’s so-called sanctuary city policies and Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a day after ICE shot a man in Manhattan.

Mullin said the city’s policies limiting cooperation with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement put the community in danger.

“It’s shameful you have a mayor who goes out there and puts criminals over law-abiding citizens,” Mullin said.

Mamdani called the shooting an “unconscionable and incredibly serious situation” and demanded ICE stop immigration enforcement in the city.

The shooting occurred Thursday afternoon in the Marble Hill neighborhood of northern Manhattan, according to the New York Police Department. ICE said it was conducting a targeted enforcement operation to arrest a 28-year-old citizen of the Dominican Republic with a criminal record who entered the U.S. illegally.

New York City police and city officials identified the wounded man as Oscar Belgal, although federal officials gave the last name as Bengal. In a court filing, his lawyers used a different spelling. DHS didn’t respond to requests for clarification Friday.

Mamdani said officers surrounded Belgal while he was in a car with a 5-year-old child and then fired. The child wasn’t harmed, he said. Mullin said the officers didn’t know a child was in the car.

The mayor said at a press conference Thursday night that he spent two hours on the phone with President Trump and Mullin, trying to negotiate Belgal’s release.

“Those negotiations were unsuccessful,” Mamdani said. “ICE put the man in an unmarked vehicle and whisked him away.”

Mullin said Trump was willing to release Belgal to the NYPD if the agency pursued charges.

“I shared that with the mayor. The mayor once again said, ‘We will not be detaining him,’” Mullin said. “He wanted us to walk away and allow this dangerous criminal back on to the streets.”

The Justice Department is currently suing New York City over sanctuary policies that block local police and correction officers from sharing information about detained undocumented migrants, including their release dates and court appearances, despite federal judges in New Jersey and Michigan recently dismissing similar challenges.

ICE said Belgal’s criminal record includes a criminal conviction for grand larceny and arrests for assault, robbery, possession of drugs and weapons possession.

Belgal has two arrests in New York City, according to the NYPD. One arrest was robbery in 2023, after which he pleaded guilty to fourth-degree grand larceny and received five years probation. The other arrest was for the criminal sale of a controlled substance in 2025, which is pending.

At least one immigration officer fired seven rounds, the NYPD said. Belgal was struck by one of the bullets or fragments and had a superficial wound, officials said. Federal officials arrested him, rendered first aid and took him to a local hospital, Marcos Charles, the head of the ICE enforcement and removal operations division, said Friday.

“He accelerated his vehicle, smashing into two of our government ICE vehicles then weaponized his vehicle and proceeded to accelerate going towards other officers,” he said.

The ICE officers involved in the arrest acted in accordance with their training, Charles said. They have been placed on administrative leave while the shooting is investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and DHS.

Bodycam footage from an NYPD officer responding to the shooting shows a man in a construction-worker vest holding a large rifle and standing over Belgal as other officials treat his wound. The NYPD officers lift Belgal into their back seat and bring him to the hospital, the footage shows.

Overnight, Belgal was taken to an undisclosed detention facility outside of New York state, which Mullin said was necessary because of his criminal history. Federal authorities intend to deport Belgal as soon as possible, Mullin said.

A federal judge on Friday blocked Belgal’s removal from the U.S. for now. During a hearing later that day in federal court in Manhattan, a Justice Department lawyer said that Belgal had been booked at Metropolitan Detention Center, a federal jail in Brooklyn.

Belgal was released from a hospital around 10 p.m. Thursday, the department lawyer said, then ICE drove him to Newark by way of the George Washington Bridge.

The presiding judge said that because Belgal’s lawyers filed their petition around 10:30 p.m., when Belgal was presumably in New Jersey, New York may not be the appropriate jurisdiction for the case.

A lawyer for Belgal told the judge her client was still in pain and had a bullet in his body. Several of his family members, including an aunt and cousins, sat in the courtroom gallery.

NYPD officers on Thursday clashed with some protesters who gathered outside the hospital where Belgal was treated after the shooting. Social-media videos appear to show police officers knocking down several people, including Darializa Avila Chevalier, a Democratic congressional candidate in New York City who is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America.

The flare up between protesters and police coincides with renewed calls from parts of Mamdani’s base to fulfill his campaign pledge of dismantling the police unit that handles protest crowd control and counterterrorism. The unit, known as the strategic response group, has become a pressure point for Mamdani, also a Democratic socialist.

Avila Chevalier criticized Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch and the NYPD’s response to the protests and how they responded to ICE’s shooting.

“Last night, the NYPD and Commissioner Tisch violated the spirit, if not the letter, of our sanctuary city policies and fueled the Trump administration’s attempt to demonize our communities,” Avila Chevalier said. “The NYPD’s Strategic Response Group must be disbanded as quickly as possible, and Commissioner Tisch must step down.”

Earlier Thursday, Mamdani said at an unrelated press conference that he remained committed to eliminating the unit and decoupling response to protests from counterterrorism. “It is something that is a priority, has been a priority, and we will have more to share soon,” Mamdani said.