US immigration officials defend ICE agents who shot man in same car as child

US immigration officials have defended the actions of officers who shot and wounded a man in his car in New York on Thursday while his five-year-old son was in the back seat.

Markwayne Mullin, the head of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which runs the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), said officers fired their weapons while trying to arrest a man with a criminal history.

"We weren't aware the child was in the car," Mullin added at a news conference on Friday, arguing that it was the man, Oscar Belgal, who had put his child in danger. Belgal is now being held at a detention facility.

The legal organisation representing Belgal told the BBC that lawyers had not yet been able to speak to him.

The shooting happened in the residential neighbourhood of Marble Hill.

Marcos Charles, a top ICE official who was also at Friday's news conference, said agents used their vehicles to try and stop Belgal in his car but that he resisted orders to get out and instead accelerated, smashing into two ICE vehicles.

Charles said Belgal then "weaponised his vehicle and proceeded to accelerate going towards other officers", adding: "Our officers, using their training, and believing that their life and the life of their partners in the general public were in danger, used their training and fired weapons."

The number of officers who fired their weapons is being investigated.

Charles said Belgal "was struck by one of the bullets or fragments superficially in the neck".

New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who called what happened "unconscionable and incredibly serious", said ICE agents surrounded Belgal's car before opening fire.

"They wore construction vests and masks that concealed their faces. There is no reasonable way to identify them as ICE agents," Mamdani said. He confirmed that the child was unharmed.

Mullin said the officers identified themselves and were wearing body-worn cameras that were turned on during the incident.

Video of the shooting, including body camera footage, has not been made public but unverified videos on social media appear to align with Mamdani's comments.

Body-worn camera footage released by the New York Police Department (NYPD) on Friday shows its officers arriving on scene and attempting to help Belgal after he has been shot. One ICE officer appears to be wearing a neon construction vest and carrying a large gun.

The NYPD officers then call for an ambulance and putting him in a police car to take him to hospital. They are later seen pulling Belgal from the vehicle and carrying him into the hospital.

Mamdani said on Thursday that he had spoken to US President Donald Trump and Mullin for two hours but failed to negotiate Belgal's release.

Mamdani said he would ask Trump, who has not yet commented publicly on the shooting, to end ICE enforcement actions in New York. Mullin has said he will not pause enforcement.

The DHS said Belgal, 28, was from the Dominican Republic and had "a prior criminal conviction for grand larceny and multiple prior arrests for assault, robbery, possession of drugs and weapons possession".

Belgal was arrested by police officers in New York in December 2023 and released "a few days later", according to the DHS.

New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said there was also still a pending case against Belgal for criminal sale of a controlled substance in 2025.

DHS has also alleged Belgal was associated with the Trinitarios, described by the US justice department as a transnational criminal group.

Mullin said the DHS believed Belgal "has either indirect or direct knowledge" of a US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officer shooting, "and that's why he became a target".

Mamdani is not the only New York official to have criticised the incident. Governor Kathy Hochul said federal officials needed to provide answers quickly about what happened.

"New Yorkers have witnessed far too many acts of violence by a rogue federal agency and untrained agents that operate with impunity," Hochul said, adding that she had spoken to Mullin and Trump as well.

There have been several high-profile shootings involving ICE officers this year, including one that caused the death of Renee Good in Minneapolis in January.