Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin sat down with CBS News’ Margaret Brennan on “Face the Nation” Sunday and made one thing crystal clear: the ICE agent who shot Dominican national Oscar Belgal didn’t put that 5-year-old child at risk. Belgal did. But of course, the liberals refuse to hold criminals accountable, so they blame the people following the law.
ICE agents encountered Belgal, 28, on Thursday in New York City after he allegedly accelerated his SUV toward multiple officers who were giving what Mullin described as “lawful demands.” Belgal, who authorities say has alleged ties to the violent Trinitarios gang, was shot and is now in a detention center. The story got national traction fast once word got out that his young son was sitting in the backseat during the whole thing.
Mullin didn’t flinch when Brennan pressed him on the body camera footage from the ICE agent who fired the shot. He said the footage from the ICE agent’s perspective hadn’t been released yet because an investigation is ongoing, but he was blunt about what the already-released NYPD body camera video was missing. “What you’re not seeing is the actual audio footage or a different angle, where you have multiple officers who are approaching this individual named Oscar, with a long, very long extensive rap sheet,” he told Brennan. You can read more about the ICE shooting of Oscar Belgal and the full exchange between Mullin and Brennan.
And long doesn’t begin to cover it. Mullin rattled off Belgal’s record like a grocery list nobody asked for: four charges of felony robbery, two charges of felony assault, felony larceny, two felony charges related to dangerous drugs, and strong gang affiliation with a group that has direct or indirect knowledge of a CBP officer who was shot last year. Oh, and Belgal had already evaded officers the month before when they tried to pick him up. DHS called him flat out “the definition of worst of the worst” in a post on X.
As for the child, Mullin was straightforward. Agents didn’t know Belgal’s son was in the car. Belgal did. “We knew his pattern of life, but we didn’t know the 5-year-old was in the vehicle,” Mullin said. “Who did know the 5-year-old was in the vehicle was Oscar. Now as a father of six kids, no way would I ever put my kids in danger.” He also said, “Unfortunately, because of the selfish behavior, he put his 5-year-old in danger.”
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who has turned pearl-clutching about ICE into a full-time hobby, publicly denounced the shooting and ICE’s presence in the city. He even spent two hours on the phone Thursday night lobbying Mullin and President Trump directly to get Belgal released. Shockingly, that didn’t work. Belgal stayed put in his detention center, which is exactly where someone with four felony robbery charges and gang ties belongs.
The ICE agent’s body camera footage will be released once the investigation wraps up. Until then, New York’s sanctuary politicians will keep making the city less safe for actual residents while going to the mat for guys like Oscar Belgal. You really can’t make this stuff up.
