Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin sparred with reporters Friday at a Washington briefing on a New York ICE shooting, cutting off questions he said were meant to change the subject and calling the exchange an example of “fake news.”
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| Suspect After Shooting |
The briefing, held with ICE officials, was called to defend Thursday’s operation in the Marble Hill section of the Bronx and to blame New York’s sanctuary policies. Officers fired several rounds at 28-year-old Oscar Belgal as he was in a car with his 5-year-old son. Belgal was hit in the neck, treated, and held in a detention facility outside the state. Mullin said agents identified themselves, gave lawful orders, and did not know a child was in the car. He said Belgal accelerated, rammed vehicles, and drove toward officers, and he called Belgal a “gangbanger” and “thug” with a criminal record, including a grand larceny conviction and a pending 2025 drug case. The public outcry, Mullin said, should be aimed at Belgal, not the officers. “I’ll never apologize about our men and women doing their job,” he said.
DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin criticized media coverage of an incident involving a five-year-old child, saying federal officers were unaware the child was inside the vehicle. Mullin accused the driver, Oscar, of putting the child at risk while attempting to evade officers and questioned why other attacks on law enforcement received less attention. For more updates, watch OAN on OAN Live or click the link in our bio.
— One America News (@OANN) October 9, 2026
City officials described the scene differently. Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said Belgal was pulling into a parking space when a plainclothes federal officer approached with a gun drawn. Mayor Zohran Mamdani said the officers wore construction vests and masks and called ICE “rotten to its core.” Mullin answered by criticizing Mamdani and Governor Kathy Hochul, arguing that sanctuary rules that limit cooperation with federal detainers left Belgal on the street.
The sharpest clash came in the question period. A reporter asked about a CNN report that ICE had been told to raise daily arrests by 1,000 heading into the midterms, then asked whether the department would keep using deportation planes bought under the previous administration.
Reporter: “As you ramp up the pace of deportations…” Mullin: “Why are you saying ramp up the pace? We do our job every day. That’s a narrative I'm gonna push back on…This is what I hate about fake news…I’m not even gonna entertain your question.” https://t.co/NBVgIs9ad4
— Bulwark Clips (@BulwarkClips) October 9, 2026
Mullin said there is no ramp-up or drawdown and refused the plane question. “This is what I hate about fake news,” he said. “When we’re doing a press conference on something, you guys want to completely steer away when you realize that this isn’t someone that you should be defending.” He said he would not entertain the question because it was not what the briefing was for, then took one more question and moved on.
Coverage of the exchange split along familiar lines, with some outlets treating the cutoff as a refusal to answer on enforcement plans and others framing the questions as an attempt to shift focus from Belgal’s record.