Judge Bars Deporting Dominican Shot by ICE on 8 October

The Daniel Patrick Moynihan US Courthouse in Lower Manhattan, where Judge John P. Cronan heard the case on Friday 9 October. File photo, 2012. (Photo: Ken Lund, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC · JUSTICE

A federal judge in Manhattan on Friday 9 October 2026 barred US authorities from deporting Oscar Bergal, a Dominican shot by ICE a day earlier. Bergal, 28, was wounded when an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer fired into his car in New York.

The case matters to US readers because it tests how far federal courts will check ICE arrests in American cities. Later the same day, a second judge refused his lawyers’ emergency request, and Bergal remains in federal custody in Brooklyn.

What the Judge Ordered

Judge J. Paul Oetken acted as the court’s Part I judge, the duty judge who handles urgent filings before a case is assigned. His two-page order says Bergal “shall not be removed from the United States absent further order of this Court.”

It also bars ICE from moving him beyond the court districts covering New York City, Long Island, the lower Hudson Valley and New Jersey. Oetken wrote that this protects the court’s power to decide the case and lets Bergal take part in it.

The ban stays in force “unless and until it is vacated or modified” by the judge assigned to the case. The court docket published by Saturday morning shows no order lifting it.

The court docket dates his lawyers’ habeas corpus petition Thursday 8 October, the day of the shooting. Habeas corpus is the centuries-old legal tool that lets a detained person ask a judge whether the detention is lawful.

Second Judge Denies Emergency Request

The case went to Judge John P. Cronan, who called both sides to a 3:30 p.m. hearing on Friday at the Moynihan courthouse. He told them to be ready to discuss where Bergal was when the petition was filed and where he is now.

Government lawyers filed a written response on Friday. After the hearing, Cronan denied the motion for a temporary restraining order, a short emergency court order, “for the reasons stated on the record.”

The denial was “without prejudice,” which means the lawyers can file the request again. CBS News New York reported that lawyers for the Dominican shot by ICE argue he was arrested without a valid warrant.

Bergal is represented by Harold A. Solis and Paige Austin of Make the Road New York, an immigrant-rights group. The named respondents include Kenneth Genalo, acting director of ICE’s New York field office, and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin.

Cronan also gave both sides until noon on Tuesday 13 October to say whether the full case file should be opened to the public. Federal rules normally limit online access to immigration case records.

From Hospital to a Brooklyn Jail

Bergal left NewYork-Presbyterian Allen Hospital at 9:58 p.m. on Thursday, officials told ABC7 New York. ICE took him to Delaney Hall, an immigration detention center in Newark, New Jersey, arriving at 10:43 p.m.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which oversees ICE, said it moved him out of New York City. It cited what it called his long criminal record and his history of fleeing, Diario Libre reported.

On Friday he was booked into the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, a federal prosecutor said, according to ABC7 New York.

“He remains in pain. He told us he still has a bullet in his body,” said Paige Austin, one of his lawyers.

His 5-year-old son, who sat in the back seat during the shooting, was not hurt and is with his mother, according to a lawyer. Court papers filed by his lawyers spell the name Bergal, while officials first gave it as Belgal.

The Metropolitan Detention Center, a federal jail in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, where Bergal was moved on Friday 9 October. File photo, 2025. (Photo: Kidfly182, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

Two Accounts of the Shooting

DHS says the Dominican shot by ICE refused orders to leave his car, rammed two government vehicles and drove at officers. New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said he was pulling into a parking space when a plainclothes officer approached with a gun drawn.

NYPD commanders said a single ICE agent fired seven shots. The FBI, ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations unit and Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark are investigating the shooting.

DHS says Bergal is in the US illegally, has a grand larceny conviction and has links to the Trinitarios street gang. He also faces a pending 2025 drug case in New York, in which he is presumed innocent.

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said agents did not know the boy was in the car, but that Bergal “was aware,” NBC New York reported. The shooting itself is described in Immigration Agent Shoots Dominican Man in New York, published on 9 October 2026.

What It Means for You

For US readers, the case shows that a federal court can freeze a deportation within a day of a habeas petition. Oetken’s order cites earlier rulings in New York, Connecticut, Colorado and California that froze deportations or transfers in the same way.

Such an order does not decide whether the detention is lawful or whether the person may stay in the country. For the Dominican shot by ICE, it only keeps him in the United States and near New York until the court rules.

Detained foreigners in the US can ask that their consulate be told, a right under the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations. US Representative Adriano Espaillat, a Dominican-born Democrat whose district includes Marble Hill, said ICE kept him and the family from seeing Bergal in hospital.

Visitors to Lower Manhattan may meet further protests. On Friday, hundreds rallied in Foley Square and marched to federal immigration offices on Varick Street, NBC New York reported.

What Is Not Known

Cronan gave his reasons for refusing the emergency request orally in court, and they are not in his written order. The docket shows no date for a ruling on the habeas petition itself.

It is not known whether prosecutors will charge Bergal over the confrontation, or whether the officer who fired will face charges. New York Governor Kathy Hochul has demanded the release of body camera footage, while the NYPD released video from its own officers who arrived afterwards.

Whether the Dominican shot by ICE already faces a deportation order, or only removal proceedings, has not been made public. The Dominican Foreign Ministry had posted no statement on the case by Saturday morning.

More: Dominican Republic news in English, every day from The Rio Times.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is Oscar Bergal?

Oscar Bergal is the 28-year-old Dominican shot by ICE during an arrest attempt in Marble Hill, Manhattan, on Thursday 8 October 2026. Early reports spelled his name Belgal.

Can ICE deport him now?

Not without a new court order. Judge J. Paul Oetken’s order of 9 October bars his removal until the court says otherwise. It does not decide whether he may stay in the United States.

Why was he not released?

Judge John P. Cronan denied the emergency request on 9 October for reasons he gave in court. The denial was without prejudice, so his lawyers can ask again.

Who is investigating the shooting?

The FBI, ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations unit and Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark are investigating the shooting. No findings have been published.

Sources: US District Court SDNY, docket Bergal v. Genalo, 26-cv-8928, 9 October 2026; Order of Judge J. Paul Oetken (Dkt. 5), 9 October 2026; Order of Judge John P. Cronan denying TRO (Dkt. 10), 9 October 2026; Order of Judge John P. Cronan on public access (Dkt. 9), 9 October 2026; Diario Libre, 9 October 2026; Diario Libre (Espaillat), 9 October 2026; Listín Diario, 8 October 2026; ABC7 New York, 10 October 2026; CBS News New York, 9 October 2026; NBC New York, 9 October 2026; amNewYork, 9 October 2026.

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