A judge denied a motion filed by attorneys for Oscar Belgal, the undocumented immigrant shot in the neck by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the Bronx, seeking his emergency release for medical reasons, court documents show.
Belgal’s lawyers argued that Belgal’s release was necessary “to obtain the outpatient medical treatment he plainly requires,” and that his “physical health is liable to degrade” if he remains in detention.
But federal Judge Hector Gonzalez noted in his ruling that the defendant’s attorneys failed to satisfy the “stringent” requirements for emergency release.
In addition, government submissions showed that Belgal received a full medical evaluation at Brooklyn Hospital Center, which concluded that he did “not need acute surgical or medical care at th[at] time and [did] not need specialized medical care while in custody,” Gonzalez wrote in his ruling.
The Legal Aid Society, which is representing Belgal, said in a statement that the ruling “leaves Mr. Belgal in detention despite the concerns surrounding his deteriorating medical condition and raises serious questions about whether his health and basic human dignity are being given the weight they deserve.”
Barry Williams / New York Daily News
Law enforcement officers investigate after ICE agents shot and wounded a man on Marble Hill Ave. near W. 225th St. in the Bronx on Thursday, Oct. 8, 2026. (Barry Williams / New York Daily News)
Belgal, 28, was struck when ICE agents on Oct. 8 fired seven rounds into his silver Honda Civic SUV on Marble Hill Ave. near W. 225th St. in the Bronx. His 5-year-old son was in the backseat when ICE agents opened fire.
Department of Homeland Security officials said Belgal “weaponized his vehicle” and accelerated at ICE officers who were trying to take him into custody but were unaware of the child.
Belgal was shot in the neck. The boy was unharmed.
DHS said on X that Belgal is “a criminal illegal alien from the Dominican Republic” who ICE had been searching for.
DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin said in a press conference that Belgal is an associate of the Trinitarios street gang and may have “direct or indirect knowledge” of the shooting of a federal Customs and Border Protection officer in Fort Washington Park in Manhattan last year.
The Marble Hill shooting sparked massive protests amid broad concern about ICE’s presence in the city and reputation for using heavy-handed tactics.
Mayor Mamdani, who supports the abolition of ICE, called the shooting an “outrage” and ICE a “rotten” agency that works to “sow chaos and terror.”