Oscar Belgal, the man shot by an ICE agent in Marble Hill earlier this month, will remain in custody after a federal judge in Brooklyn denied his request for release.
In a ruling Friday afternoon, U.S. District Judge Hector Gonzalez found that the 28-year-old Dominican father of two had received adequate medical care in his two weeks detained at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, and that his immediate release wasn’t warranted.
The judge’s order means Belgal will remain in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention indefinitely as his immigration case and federal habeas corpus petition proceed. It comes two weeks after the Oct. 8 shooting by ICE officers on the crowded streets of Marble Hill, which seized the nation’s attention and drew widespread condemnation from New York elected officials.
“Petitioner’s submissions characterize his medical care as inadequate and dangerous, but the government’s submissions, including the Medical Records, show that he has received necessary and appropriate care and that his medical condition is stable,” Gonzalez wrote. “Accordingly, Petitioner has failed to demonstrate that his immediate release is necessary pending adjudication of his Petition.”
Gonzalez described how Belgal was evaluated when he arrived at the federal detention center in Brooklyn, “and provided with medical care in the days following, including necessary prescription medications, necessary wound care and monitoring, concussion evaluation and monitoring.”
He went on to describe how Belgal was subsequently evaluated at Brooklyn Hospital, had a CT scan of his head and neck, and medical providers there determined he did “not need acute surgical or medical care” and didn’t “need specialized medical care while in custody.”
The Legal Aid Society, which is representing Belgal, insisted his medical condition was getting worse.
“This 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,” the group said in a statement. “Mr. Belgal deserves access to the medical care he needs, and his health should not be put at further risk while he remains in custody.”
Attorneys for Belgal had described in a federal lawsuit filed shortly after the shooting how Belgal was being held in solitary confinement with a bullet still lodged in his neck, asserting he had lost sensation in half his face, and was only getting ibuprofen to manage the pain.
Complaints about access to adequate medical care at the Metropolitan Detention Center are common, and The City Reporter previously reported on a number of lawsuits filed by ICE detainees alleging difficulty getting access medication needed to manage conditions including HIV, or severe dental pain that went treated only with ibuprofen.
The Bureau of Prisons has defended the medical care it provides detainees and said it makes, “every effort to ensure the physical safety and health of the individuals confined to our facilities through a controlled environment that is secure and humane.”
The Oct. 8 shooting rattled the neighborhood of Marble Hill. Belgal’s 5-year-old son was in the back seat of the car he was driving during the shooting, and passersby scattered as gunfire rang out on the busy street.
Surveillance video released by the NYPD showed masked agents in plainclothes rushing up to Belgal’s car, smashing his windows and training their weapons on him, as he appears to try to drive away.
Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clarke has said her office is leading an investigation into the shooting along with the office of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. Marble Hill straddles jurisdictions in the Bronx and Manhattan.
The officer who shot Belgal has not been publicly identified, and the Department of Homeland Security has defended the agents’ actions. NYPD officials said they found seven shell casings at the scene.
A supervising ICE officer, Brenden Cuni, who has been named in a string of violent arrests and cited for lying in court submissions, rushed to the scene of the shooting moments after, video shows, wearing a construction vest and brandishing an assault rifle, though he does not appear to be the shooter, according to the video footage released by the NYPD.
In the government’s submission to Judge Gonzalez on Friday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Nathan Shi disputed Belgal’s attorneys’ allegations that DHS didn’t have an administrative warrant at the time of his arrest.
In documents submitted in federal court, DHS officials asserted they had targeted Belgal for arrest once before in September, and then returned in October, citing his criminal history and alleged gang ties.
Belgal had an open drug case and a conviction for grand larceny, state court records show. DHS described him as a “person of interest” in the 2025 shooting of an off-duty border patrol officer in Fort Washington Park, according to a document the Trump administration submitted in court. Two people have already been sentenced in that shooting.
Belgal has not been charged with any new criminal offenses and is being held in ICE custody for civil immigration violations. Belgal’s attorneys deny Belgal has any gang affiliation and say DHS has provided no evidence of any, in filings submitted in federal court.
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The post Judge Denies Oscar Belgal’s Request for Release After Marble Hill ICE Shooting appeared first on The City Reporter.
