Oscar Belgal, the undocumented immigrant shot by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in an SUV on a crowded New York City street Thursday, had been arrested twice over the last three years and was free on supervised release after being charged with selling fentanyl, heroin, and cocaine to an undercover narcotics detective last year, according to court documents and prosecutors.

An ICE agent fired seven rounds into the silver Honda Civic SUV after trying to block in Belgal, 28, at about 4 p.m. on Marble Hill Ave. near W. 225th St. in the Bronx. Belgal was struck in the neck, NYPD Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said at a late-night press conference at the scene. The child was not harmed.

The Department of Homeland Security said on X that Belgal was  a criminal illegal alien from the Dominican Republic  whom ICE had been searching for. DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin said in a press conference on Friday that Belgal is a member of the Trinitarios street gang and may have  direct or indirect knowledge  of the shooting of a federal Customs and Border Patrol officer in Fort Washington Park in Manhattan last year.

Mullin said that ICE agents took Belgal out of New York State and steps have already begun to deport him, though his lawyers filed a habeas petition in Manhattan federal court. In a subsequent order, Judge Paul Oetken prohibited the feds from removing him from the country absent a ruling from him and said he must remain in New York or New Jersey, with a hearing set for Friday afternoon.

ICE agents tried to grab Belgal in September, but he ran away from them, Mullins said. When they cornered him in his car in the Bronx on Thursday, he sped off, nearly hitting the officers.

 Because of his escalation, we had to use force,  Mullins said.

In December 2025, Belgal was indicted on one count of criminal sale of a controlled substance in the second degree and nine counts of criminal sale of a controlled substance in the third degree, according to court documents.

Belgal met with an undercover detective on Wadsworth Ave. in Washington Heights on at least eight separate occasions 
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