An Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent shot a man in New York City’s Bronx borough while a five-year-old child was inside his car, triggering angry protests and renewed calls for an end to the agency’s immigration enforcement operations. The incident occurred on Thursday, October 8, 2026, in the Marble Hill neighbourhood, amid growing criticism of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani described the shooting as an “unconscionable and incredibly serious situation”, saying preliminary reports indicated that federal agents surrounded the man and the child before opening fire. According to New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch, the man, identified by city police as Oscar Belgal, a 28-year-old Dominican national, was pulling into a parking space when a plainclothes federal officer approached with a gun drawn. A second officer, also not in uniform, subsequently approached the vehicle.

Tisch said Belgal began moving the car forward, prompting at least one officer to fire seven rounds. The man was struck below his left ear but remained conscious and was taken to a nearby hospital for medical treatment, according to the New York Police Department. Authorities said the five-year-old child was physically unharmed and was later with a relative.

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The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which oversees ICE, said its officers were carrying out a targeted enforcement operation in the Bronx at approximately 4pm, seeking to arrest Belgal over a criminal conviction.

The department confirmed that an officer had discharged a firearm and that the suspect was injured, adding that the incident remained under investigation. However, the department’s description of the man as a “criminal illegal alien” contrasted with the concerns raised by city officials over the use of force and the circumstances surrounding the shooting.

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The incident prompted an immediate response from Mamdani, who said he had contacted US President Donald Trump and would demand an end to ICE enforcement operations in New York City. “I will not stand by while ICE agents terrorise our communities,” the mayor declared.

Speaking at the scene later on Thursday, he accused the agency of operating without accountability and spreading fear across American communities, arguing that the shooting reinforced longstanding concerns about its conduct. He called for ICE to be abolished.

New York Governor Kathy Hochul also expressed outrage, saying she had spoken with Trump and US Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin on Thursday night. Hochul urged the federal government to suspend immigration enforcement operations in New York and called for the release of any body-camera footage related to the shooting. She said the footage was necessary to establish the facts and ensure that the public could understand what had happened.

Protests erupted on Thursday evening, with demonstrators marching from the scene of the shooting towards a nearby hospital. Protesters condemned the incident as another example of the dangers associated with the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration policies, while some clashes and scuffles with police were reported. New York City Council member Carmen De La Rosa, who represents the area, expressed solidarity with the affected community, saying, “We are heartbroken and enraged.”

The shooting has intensified scrutiny of ICE, which has faced mounting criticism over its enforcement tactics and the use of deadly force. In January, federal immigration agents fatally shot two US citizens in Minneapolis: Renee Nicole Good, a 37-year-old mother of three who was killed by an ICE agent on January 7, and Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old intensive care nurse who was shot by a US Border Patrol agent. Both deaths provoked widespread protests and renewed debate over the accountability of federal immigration authorities.

Following Good’s death, officials in the Trump administration described her as a “domestic terrorist”, although video footage of the incident raised questions about claims that she had attempted to run over an agent.

The federal government subsequently removed local authorities from the investigation, rejected calls for a civil rights inquiry and deployed hundreds of additional federal agents to Minnesota, bringing the total number of personnel there to approximately 3,000. Demonstrations against the killings and the broader immigration crackdown spread to hundreds of cities across the United States.

Trump has blamed what he describes as unfair media coverage for the decline in public support for ICE, urging the Department of Homeland Security and the agency to publicise the violent offenders they arrest. His administration has assigned ICE the task of deporting one million people annually, while significantly expanding its personnel and financial resources.

The agency more than doubled in size during the first year of Trump’s second administration, reaching more than 22,000 agents by January, according to the information provided. It has also become the highest-funded federal law enforcement agency, with approximately $75 billion allocated over four years under a tax bill signed by Trump last year.

Some city and state leaders are calling for a halt to federal immigration operations and protesters denouncing the agency’s conduct. The incident has added another flashpoint to the national debate over immigration enforcement, the use of force by federal officers and the future of ICE under the Trump administration.

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