The Department of Homeland Security was unable to refute facts it attempted to discredit as “numerous lies” about a federal immigration agent shooting a man in New York on Thursday.
“Following yesterday’s officer involved shooting in New York, numerous lies about the incident and ICE operations in the city have been parroted by sanctuary politicians,” DHS claimed in a post on X Friday.
The department was referring to the shooting of 28-year-old Oscar Belgal, who was driving in his car with his 5-year-old child when plainclothes Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers approached him with guns drawn.
Body camera video released by the New York Police Department on Friday shows officers rendering Belgal aid after the ICE officer shot him in the neck.
The video showed plainclothes immigration agents, some wearing masks, while one unmasked agent in a construction vest held a rifle. The agent could be seen talking on a cellphone in his other hand.
In follow-up social media posts Friday, DHS attempted to counter a “CLAIM” about the shooting with a “FACT.”
“CLAIM: A New Yorker was shot by ICE agents in Marble Hill,” the account posted of the verifiable fact. “FACT: This ‘New Yorker’ is a criminal illegal alien from the Dominican Republic.”
DHS also dismissed as a “CLAIM” that at least one ICE officer was wearing a construction vest and that others hid their identities with masks.
“CLAIM: The ICE agents wore construction vests and masks that concealed their faces. There was no reasonable way to identify them as ICE agents,” the account posted.
It countered this truth with a seemingly unrelated “FACT” that Belgal “was the subject of a targeted enforcement action. What makes someone a target for immigration enforcement is whether or not they are illegally in the U.S.”
At a press conference Friday, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said immigration agents didn’t know a 5-year-old child was in the car with Belgal when at least one of them opened fire.
“We wasn’t aware the child was in the car, I can tell you that,” Mullin said.