Last week, ICE agents shot a man in the neck while attempting to arrest him in the Marble Hill section of the Bronx. Homeland Security says they were trying to detain 28-year-old Oscar Belgal when officers fired seven rounds into his car with his 5-year-old son in the back seat. Belgal was hit in the neck and taken to the hospital. Once he was in stable condition, ICE agents completed their arrest, removed him from the hospital, and took him into custody.
This is just the latest in a growing list of ICE encounters with the public that have turned violent. So far, there have been 30 shootings involving ICE in 2026, resulting in nine deaths and 13 injuries.
But for me, this one hit close to home.
In the early part of my career, I was a crime and politics reporter in the Bronx, and Marble Hill was part of my coverage area. In fact, the corner of West 225th and Marble Hill Avenue — where Belgal was shot — is one I have walked dozens of times either reporting on a story or simply living my life.
Located just over the Broadway Bridge from the northern tip of Manhattan, Marble Hill is a residential area that has long been a working-class community of color.
When I heard about the shooting, I was in shock. There was a time in my life that I might have been the person to break the news. Or I would have been on the scene deep into the night as protesters and elected officials gathered to mourn the violence befalling their community and decry the actions of the federal agents involved.
But last Thursday I felt — as I so often do under the current administration — powerless. Someone in a community I love and care about deeply was shot. His kid was in the car. The block where it happened is full of residential buildings and at 4 in the afternoon, when the shooting occurred, who knows how many people could have been hurt.
Two weeks ago, I and the rest of the IRI team were at a conference with colleagues from around the country who were envious of how nice it must be to live in New York during this time, with a local government that cares about immigrants. And it is nice. Since Mayor Zohran Mamdani has taken office, things have felt special in New York. From rent freezes for rent-stabilized apartments, to expanded public daycare for 2-year-olds, to the Knicks winning an NBA championship, things in New York have felt different than in the rest of the country.
But Thursday’s shooting reminds us that we are not immune. Indeed, we have not been immune. There is a limit to what any city or state can do when the federal government is out of control.
According to data from DHS compiled by the Data Deportation Project, ICE arrested nearly 4,000 people in New York this summer alone and has arrested over 19,000 people since January 2025. Mostly operating below the radar of national media, ICE has abducted thousands of New Yorkers who are doing what we all do in this city: Trying to get by.
We simply must do more to protect our friends and neighbors from the horrible realities of the deportation regime.