A federal judge blocked deportation of a Dominican illegal immigrant shot by ICE in the Bronx after he allegedly drove at officers with a child aboard.
A federal judge on Friday temporarily barred the removal of a 28-year-old Dominican national shot during a targeted Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrest in the Bronx, keeping him in the country while his challenge to detention remains pending.
Fox News Digital reported that U.S. District Judge Paul Oetken, an Obama appointee, issued a two-page order stopping deportation without a further court order and limiting any transfer outside the Southern or Eastern Districts of New York or the District of New Jersey unless the court first approves it.
The ruling came a day after ICE officers in Marble Hill opened fire during an attempt to take Oscar Belgal, also named Oscar Bergal in court papers, into custody. New York City police later released bodycam and surveillance video of the aftermath.
Department of Homeland Security officials described a targeted operation to arrest Belgal. Officers used vehicles to block him as he tried to leave. A senior ICE official said Belgal refused lawful orders, pulled the vehicle forward, and accelerated toward the agents.
NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said at a late Thursday news conference near the scene that Belgal pulled his vehicle forward before at least one officer fired seven rounds. The shots struck him below the left ear.
A 5-year-old boy was inside the car. The child was unharmed. ICE said agents did not know the boy was there. Officials added that Belgal knew and still chose to put the child at risk.
Marcos Charles, a senior ICE official, spoke Friday in Washington alongside DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin and defended the use of force.
"Our officers, using their training and believing that their life and the life of the partners and the general public were in danger, used their training and fired weapons,"
Charles said. Belgal survived, received hospital treatment, and was later released. His lawyers say a bullet remains inside his body.
NYPD officers were not involved in the shooting. They responded after the gunfire, took the wounded man to a hospital, and later released bodycam footage of the aftermath. Hours after that, the department put out muted surveillance video from two vantage points covering the seconds before and after the shots.
Federal authorities did not treat Belgal as a first-time immigration case. DHS said he had a prior grand larceny conviction and earlier arrests for assault, robbery, drug possession, and weapons possession. Officials also alleged ties to the Trinitarios street gang.
Those claims come from DHS and federal authorities as reported. No separate court docket spelling out every prior case appeared in the available account, and no new criminal charges tied to Thursday’s shooting were listed.
Still, the picture federal officials presented was plain: a removable Dominican national with a serious alleged record, a refused arrest, a vehicle pushed toward officers, and a small child in the back seat.
Judge Oetken’s order does two concrete things while Belgal’s petition challenging detention is pending. First, he cannot be removed from the United States without a court order. Second, federal authorities cannot move him to a facility outside the Southern or Eastern Districts of New York or the District of New Jersey without prior court approval.
At a Friday hearing, the judge dismissed a defense request for a temporary restraining order with prejudice. Federal prosecutors did not challenge the non-deportation directive already in place, so the broader defense application fell.
The practical result is delay. ICE tried to arrest a man it says has a criminal history and gang links. Shots were fired after a vehicle moved on officers. A day later, a federal judge locked in place a bar on shipping him out of the country without another court green light.
Outside a courthouse Friday, immigration attorney Harold Solis of the nonprofit Make the Road New York condemned the officers’ actions and framed Belgal as a father with his son in the car.
"Regardless of whether or not someone has a criminal history, it is not lawful and it is not OK to shoot a father in an afternoon with his son in the back seat,"
Solis told reporters. He added a second line aimed at the street, not the courtroom process ICE was already using.
"That is not how we resolve legal disputes in this country. We resolve them in buildings like these, in courtrooms."
Solis put the emphasis on the presence of a child and on the gunfire. He did not erase the DHS account of prior convictions, prior arrests, alleged gang ties, or a vehicle accelerated toward agents who said they feared for their lives and the public’s.
Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark said her office is working to establish what happened and decide the next step. She called any shooting in the borough a serious community-safety matter and pledged a review guided by evidence and law.
"Any shooting in the Bronx is a matter of grave concern that impacts community safety,"
Clark said. She followed with the office’s standard investigative pledge.
"As District Attorney, it is my top priority to protect the well-being of everyone in the borough. We will continue to conduct a thorough investigation where our process is guided by the evidence and the law."
Protests and clashes were described near the scene after the shooting. The core sequence remained the ICE arrest attempt, the vehicle movement, the seven rounds, the wounded driver, the unharmed child, the hospital trip, the video release, and the Friday court order holding removal in place.
The verified timeline is tight. On Thursday, ICE moved to arrest Belgal in Marble Hill. Officials say he refused orders and drove forward. At least one officer fired seven times. Belgal was hit below the left ear. A 5-year-old in the car walked away unhurt. NYPD arrived after the shots and took the wounded man to a hospital.
On Friday, Oetken’s order blocked removal without court permission and limited out-of-district transfers. Prosecutors did not fight the non-deportation piece, and a defense TRO bid was dismissed with prejudice. Charles and Mullin faced reporters in Washington. NYPD released bodycam video of the aftermath, then surveillance clips from two angles. Solis attacked the shooting. Clark promised an evidence-led inquiry.
Open questions remain. The exact clock time of the shooting was not pinned down beyond Thursday. The full docket number and verbatim text of Oetken’s order were not reproduced. Which specific officer fired was not named. No charging document from Thursday’s encounter was described. Independent court records beyond the DHS summary of Belgal’s alleged past were not laid out in the same account.
What is not in doubt is the collision of priorities. Federal officers tried to take a removable illegal immigrant with an alleged violent and theft-related history off the street. He ended up shot after a vehicle moved on them with a child inside. A federal judge then froze deportation while paperwork continues.
When ICE tries to remove a man with an alleged rap sheet and the courts hit pause after the bullets fly, ordinary Americans see the border debate in one Bronx block: enforcement first, or another delay dressed up as process.
