A federal judge blocked the government from deporting a man who was shot by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer in New York City a day earlier.
U.S. District Judge J. Paul Oetken issued the order Friday after lawyers for Oscar Belgal, 28, challenged his detention in federal court in Manhattan.
Belgal was shot Thursday afternoon in the Marble Hill neighborhood of Manhattan, according to ABC News. Court records spell his last name Bergal.
“[He] shall not be removed from the United States absent further order of this Court,” Oetken wrote.
Oetken wrote that “an immediate order is necessary to preserve the Court’s jurisdiction,” or its power to decide the case, until a judge is assigned. The judge also barred officials from moving Belgal to any facility outside the federal court districts covering New York City, Long Island, parts of the Hudson Valley and New Jersey, according to the order.
Belgal’s lawyers say they cannot find him, Courthouse News reported. Their petition says ICE vehicles rushed him out of a hospital Thursday evening.
The shooting happened around 4 p.m. Thursday, when at least one ICE officer fired seven rounds and struck Belgal in the neck, New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said.
“When the ICE agent opened fire, a 5-year-old child … was in the back seat of the car,” New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani (D-NY) said Thursday night. “Thank God that child is physically unharmed.”
Marcos Charles, a senior ICE official, alleged Friday that Belgal “weaponized his vehicle” and smashed it into ICE vehicles. Charles said the government would pursue several criminal charges against Belgal.
“We will continue to place him in removal proceedings, and we will continue to try to remove him from this country as quickly as possible following his charges,” Charles said.
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