New Yorkers are refusing to describe the violent illegal migrant shot and wounded by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Thursday as one of their own, even as leftists try to paint him as the victim and demonize federal agents who are working to keep American citizens safe.

Twenty-eight-year-old Oscar Belgal of the Dominican Republic is believed to have entered the United States illegally in 2022 and has since allegedly taken part in multiple crimes, the New York Post reported Friday.

The outlet cited court records when it stated that the Democrat-run state’s bail and sanctuary laws have allowed him to roam the streets despite having been involved in robbing someone at gunpoint in 2023 and allegedly selling drugs after being convicted in 2025.

In a social media post Thursday evening, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani called the illegal a “New Yorker” and claimed citizens wanted ICE to leave the area:

However, locals told the Post they did not agree with the radical leftist mayor:

“I don’t consider him a New Yorker,” fumed Bronx mom Migdalia Martinez, whose 12-year-old son Jacob Freytas was killed in gangland crossfire while riding his bike in July.

“The only thing I do consider him as is trash, nothing else but trash. And I don’t consider New York, my home, as trash,” she told the Post Friday.

Her son was killed in the Mt. Eden area where the gang Trinitarios is well-known. Federal authorities believe that gang was involved in the 2025 shooting of a Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) officer.

Belgal was shot on Thursday in the Bronx as U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials were investigating his  potential gang involvement in the CBP officer shooting, per Breitbart News.

He “reportedly tried to use his vehicle to ram immigration agents. They opened fire on his car, delivering a non-life threatening graze wound to the man’s neck,” the outlet said.

DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin said the agency will not pause its efforts to take criminal migrants into custody, noting that ICE officers fired because they feared for their lives as the suspect used his vehicle as a deadly weapon.

Mullin also said Belgal put his own child, who was inside the car, in danger. During a press conference after the shooting, Mullin explained officers did not know the five-year-old was inside the vehicle at the time.

“We weren’t aware the child was in the car, I can tell you that. But do you know who was? Oscar. Oscar knew he had a child in his car. Oscar chose to accelerate at a high rate of speed and ram two different vehicles as it appears he was going towards officers. And so the public outcry should also be towards this criminal, this thug, this gangbanger, this possible murderer; the outrage should be with him for endangering the five year old,” he said:

Leftist anti-ICE protests have erupted in New York City since the shooting, according to video footage posted online:

Another neighbor told the Post she also did not consider Belgal a New Yorker.

“Absolutely not. That’s one of the reasons I think we should vote blue out,” Mora Rodriguez said, adding, “What’s going on with the legal system, the jail, letting these people go after they have a whole list of convictions? This is a criminal. Why would you let this person out? These judges are very radical. We gotta vote red. That’s what I can say to you.”

A federal judge has since blocked Belgal’s deportation after immigration advocates filed a petition, ABC 7 reported.

“Belgal was booked into MDC-Brooklyn on Friday after he was transported from ICE custody in Newark, New Jersey, according to a federal prosecutor,” the outlet stated.