A federal judge blocked the deportation of Oscar Belgal, the man an ICE officer shot in Manhattan.

Two stories are now competing over the same seven shots. ICE says Belgal used his car as a weapon and rammed government vehicles. The NYPD commissioner says plainclothes officers approached with guns drawn as he pulled into a parking space. A federal judge has not picked a side on that. What the judge did Friday was narrower: Belgal stays in the country, and close to New York, until the court can hear his case.

U.S. District Judge J. Paul Oetken on Friday, Oct. 9, 2026, ordered that Oscar Belgal, 28, "shall not be removed from the United States absent further order of this Court," after Belgal's lawyers filed a habeas petition in federal court in Manhattan challenging his detention. Raw Story reported that Oetken wrote an immediate order was needed to preserve the court's jurisdiction until a judge is assigned, and that he barred officials from moving Belgal outside the federal court districts covering New York City, Long Island, parts of the Hudson Valley and New Jersey. Court records spell the last name Bergal. ABC7 New York also reported the order. A habeas order is about custody and jurisdiction. It is not a ruling on the shooting.

The shooting happened around 4 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 8, in the Marble Hill neighborhood of Manhattan. The Associated Press reported that New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said Belgal was pulling into a parking space when a plainclothes federal officer approached with his gun drawn, followed by a second officer who also was not in uniform. When Belgal started to pull forward, at least one officer fired seven rounds, hitting him below his left ear. ABC7 reported that NYPD body camera video shows officers arriving moments later, finding Belgal conscious and handcuffed, and driving him to a hospital themselves. His 5-year-old son was in the back seat. ABC7 reported the boy was not hurt and is with a family member.

ICE tells it differently. The Associated Press reported that senior ICE official Marcos Charles said Friday that Belgal drove into officers' vehicles and that officers fired because they believed their lives were in danger. ABC7 reported that Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said agents identified themselves, did not know a child was in the car, and had tried to detain Belgal in September before he fled. ABC7 reported that two agents were treated for injuries. DHS says Belgal is from the Dominican Republic and is in the country illegally. The NYPD says he has prior arrests for robbery and drug possession, and DHS officials linked him to a street gang. Arrests are not convictions, and the gang claim is an allegation.

Belgal was moved out of New York state to what Mullin called a "more secured facility," ABC7 reported. Raw Story, citing Courthouse News, reported that his lawyers say they cannot find him. Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Gov. Kathy Hochul said they pressed President Trump and Mullin for his release without success and called for the body camera footage to be released, the Associated Press reported. Charles said the government will pursue several criminal charges and will keep trying to remove Belgal "as quickly as possible following his charges." No federal charge had been announced as of Friday. If one is filed, it will have to be proven. Defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.