Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin sat down with CBS News’ Margaret Brennan and stated that body camera footage would not be able to tell the full story of what happened during last week’s shooting involving federal immigration officers and a criminal illegal alien, going on to say that the foreign national put the life of his own five-year-old at risk.
An Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent was forced to open fire at Dominican national Oscar Belgal, 28, after he allegedly accelerated his SUV toward several officers, according to authorities. Making things look even worse for Belgal is that he has a rap sheet with a number of violent crimes listed on it.
Mullin made an appearance on “Face the Nation,” on Sunday where he talked about the fallout over the incident, which took place in New York City. The incident started receiving a lot of attention nationwide after it was revealed that Belgal’s young son was in the backseat of the SUV. “We had our badges out, once again, giving lawful demands. He decided that he was going to accelerate and try to evade again,” Mullin told Brennan.
“We had taken every precaution to try to keep that from happening, and unfortunately, this took place. We would have loved for him to exit the vehicle, like we asked him to. He decided not to. Unfortunately, because of the selfish behavior, he put his 5-year-old in danger,” Mullin said during the interview, according to The Daily Caller.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, an avowed Democratic socialist, took an opportunity to publicly denounce the shooting and presence of ICE in the Big Apple. Mamdani had a conversation with Mullin and President Donald Trump that lasted two hours. During that talk, Mamdani tried to talk the two men into releasing Belgal from jail. His request was denied.
Body camera footage of the shooting, which was from the point of view of the ICE agent who shot Belgal, has not been released yet. However, footage from the body cameras that were worn by officers with the New York Police Department was released not long after the incident. Belgal came into the United States illegally and has alleged connections to a violent Dominican-American gang.
“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,” Mullin said during the interview after Brennan asked him when the ICE agent’s body cam footage would be made available.
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Mullin then confirmed that federal authorities will release the footage once an investigation is completed. “He’s [Belgal has] only been in the country for three years, and he has a rap sheet of four charges of felony robbery, two charges of felony assault, felony larceny … two felony charges of dangerous drugs and strong gang affiliation that has direct or indirect knowledge of a CBP [Customs and Border Protection] officer that was shot last year,” Mullin explained. “And this guy evaded officers last month when we tried to get to him.”
“We knew he was armed. We knew he was dangerous. Or there was a possibility of him being armed. We knew his pattern of life, but we didn’t know the 5-year-old was in the vehicle. 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,” Mullin concluded.
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