A man shot by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents on Thursday in the Bronx cannot be deported unless officials obtain a court order, a judge ruled Friday.
Protests erupted after the man, later identified as a 28-year-old Dominican national, was shot during a traffic stop in New York City.
'Our officers, using their training and believing that their life and the life of the partners and the general public were in danger, used their training and fired weapons.'
Oscar Belgal was shot after refusing to comply with lawful orders from ICE officers who were trying to arrest him, according to the Department of Homeland Security. He was hospitalized for treatment and later released.
U.S. District Judge Paul Oetken said in a two-page order that Belgal could not be deported without a court order while he challenged his detention.
He also said Belgal could not be transferred outside of the Southern or Eastern Districts of New York or the District of New Jersey without a court order.
Officers had tried to box in Belgal with their vehicles during the operation, but the man accelerated the car before one officer shot at him.
"Our officers, using their training and believing that their life and the life of the partners and the general public were in danger, used their training and fired weapons," senior ICE official Marcos Charles said.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani (D) has been condemning ICE in numerous statements since the shooting.
"I am angry tonight," he wrote on social media. "Because today ICE shot a New Yorker. They shot a New Yorker while his five year old child was in the car. ICE makes this city less safe. We want them out. Now."
RELATED: Man shot by ICE in the Bronx — Mamdani demands Trump end all operations in NYC
DHS said the migrant had been previously arrested for assault, robbery, drug possession, and weapons possession. He also had been convicted of grand larceny.
Anti-ICE critics were outraged to learn that there was a 5-year-old boy in the vehicle during the shooting. He was unharmed.
"Regardless of whether or not someone has a criminal history, it is not lawful and it is not OK to shoot a father in an afternoon with his son in the back seat," said immigration attorney Harold Solis of Make the Road New York to reporters on Friday. "That is not how we resolve legal disputes in this country. We resolve them in buildings like these, in courtrooms."
Oetken was appointed to the court by former President Barack Obama.
Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!
Continue reading...
[H/T Blaze Media]
