The Dominican man shot by ICE in New York, Oscar Belgal, 28, remains detained in a federal jail in Brooklyn with a bullet lodged in his neck, according to his lawyers. A federal judge has prohibited his deportation while his appeal is pending, but his defense team says he is being held in isolation and does not know whether he will receive the surgery he needs.
Why it matters: The case of the Dominican man shot by ICE has become a showdown between the Trump administration and New York authorities over ICE operations in the city and is being closely followed by the Dominican community in Upper Manhattan and the Bronx.
In a statement on Saturday, the defense team said Belgal is being held in «deplorable» conditions. «While he is in isolation, a bullet remains lodged in his neck, the left side of his face is numb, and he can barely hear out of his left ear,» they stated, according to Newsweek. They added that doctors told him he needs urgent surgery, which could not be performed on Thursday because a specialized surgeon was unavailable, and that he also has a shoulder wound caused by broken glass. They also denounced a lack of access to food.
«You're not supposed to get shot in your car with your child sitting in the back. Period,» his lawyer Harold Solis said after a hearing on Friday, according to AP.
ICE official Marcos Charles said Oscar Belgal refused to get out of the vehicle, crashed into two government cars, and then «used his vehicle as a weapon» by accelerating toward other agents. His defense team rejects this version. Charles claimed that Belgal was linked to a motorcycle robbery gang, that he was sentenced to five years of probation last year for grand larceny, and that he evaded ICE in September. Belgal pleaded not guilty in a pending drug sales case, according to AP.
Authorities have spelled his last name in three different ways: Belgal (local police and courts), Bergal (his lawyers), and Bengal (the federal government).
Judge Oetken's order prevents Oscar Belgal's deportation while his habeas corpus petition is pending and prohibits his transfer outside the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York or New Jersey without court permission. It does not order his release or determine who was at fault in the shooting. MundoNow first reported on the judge's order that halted his deportation and on the operation in Marble Hill.
Sources: AP via NY1; Newsweek; El País; El Diario NY; amNY. Data consulted on October 12, 2026.
