Harry Styles interrupted his Saturday night concert at Madison Square Garden to ask his fans to pay their respects to Oscar Belgal, a man shot by a federal immigration agent in New York just two days ago, leaving his five-year-old son in the back seat of the car.
“I just want us to take a moment to think about Oscar Belgal tonight,” Styles told the crowd, guitar in hand, before he played “Sign of the Times,” a song that would conclude his performance.
“I want us to just think, [to] remember, to just look after each other,” he said. “It is up to us to make the cities that we live in places we want to see. It’s up to us to make the world a place that we want to see, that we want to give to our children.”
“So please continue looking after each other, and remember, your friends, the people you love, the people who don’t look like you and aren’t born where you are from: they deserve respect, love, dignity,” he added.
@fraggle_rockkk I love seeing Harry speak up about what happened in the Bronx and condemn the injustice. Harry saying that everyone deserves respect, love, dignity and justice❤️🩹 What happened to Oscar Belgal, who was shot by an ICE agent during an immigration operation while his five-year-old child was in the car, should make us all stop and reflect. No matter where you come from, what language you speak, or what your story is. 🌍💚 We are all human beings. We all deserve respect, dignity, freedom and love. No one should have to live in fear because of who they are or where they come from. The actions of ICE agents in the Bronx raise serious questions about the use of force and the way people are treated during immigration enforcement operations. Every person deserves dignity, and every use of force must be investigated and held accountable. We need to take care of one another, stand together when people’s rights are violated, and remember that beyond every border, we are all human beings. We don’t need more hate. We need more empathy, more solidarity, and more love. Respect. Dignity. Love. For EVERYONE. No exceptions. 🌍💚 #harrystyles #onedirection #harrystylesvids #harrystylesedit
♬ Experience – Solo Piano – Ludovico Einaudi
Styles was in the middle of a 21-night residency as part of a global tour, “Together, Together.” He plans to hold 30 concerts at the Garden. The residency started on August 26th.
According to Billboard, Styles did not mention U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement during the speech. Still, his words came just a few days after multiple protests and outrage occurred throughout the city following the shooting. Moreover, he asked the fans, “Please, get home safely and look after each other,” according to the magazine.
Belgal, 28, a Dominican national, was shot Thursday afternoon in a targeted ICE operation that took place in Marble Hill, a small neighborhood in Manhattan close to the Bronx.
According to the New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch, Belgal parked the car at a spot when a plainclothes federal agent approached him with his gun out, and another officer followed suit, also in plainclothes. Just as Belgal started moving his car forward, an officer shot seven rounds and hit him in the left side of the head. The boy in the back seat was unharmed.
Federal officials gave a very different version of the incident. According to Marcos Charles, the head of ICE enforcement and removal operations, Belgal ignored the demands to get out of the car, rammed into two federal vehicles, and then drove toward the officers, forcing them to open fire as they felt endangered. Charles stated that Belgal “weaponized his vehicle.”
According to Charles, the officers were unaware that there was a child in the car. Markwayne Mullin, the Homeland Security secretary, accused Belgal of endangering his son while trying to evade the arrest.
A woman who works in a deli near the scene told CBS News New York that she witnessed the car driving off from the agents.
ICE believes that Belgal has ties to the Trinitarios gang. Charles claims that Belgal was convicted of grand larceny last year and sentenced to five years of probation. Belgal escaped from the officers who wanted to arrest him for deportation in September. He pleaded not guilty to narcotics sale charges in a pending case.
The lawyers identified the man as Oscar Belgal, with his last name as Bergal. New York police and local court records, as well as Styles, spelled the last name as Bergal. Federal court documents spell Belgal as Bergal.
Belgal was admitted to the hospital and then taken into federal custody. According to the prosecutors, he was at first sent to a federal detention center in Newark, New Jersey, and later transferred to the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn.
“He still has a bullet in his body,” Austin, his attorney, said at a hearing in Manhattan federal court on Friday.
That day, U.S. District Judge J. Paul Oetken issued a temporary restraining order preventing the government from deporting or transferring Belgal from the Southern and Eastern districts of New York and the District of New Jersey without the court’s approval. The lawyers claim Belgal’s arrest was illegal and are seeking his release.
The boy is safe and under the care of his relative, according to Billboard. U.S. Rep. Adriano Espaillat, who visited the boy in the hospital, says that the mother told him that her child was terrified and kept remembering the incident. “That child is terrorized,” according to Governor Kathy Hochul.
Both Hochul and Zohran Mamdani, the mayor of New York (both Democrats), tried to convince Mullin and Donald Trump to release Belgal but failed. Moreover, they demanded the release of the body camera video footage from the shooting and to stop the immigration enforcement operations in New York. Mullin confirmed that the officers wore activated body cameras but did not say when the video would be released.
“New York City will not stand by while ICE agents shoot New Yorkers,” Mamdani said Thursday night, asking to abolish the agency.
Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark said her office will try to find out the truth about the incident. Protesters gathered near the hospital, and police detained five people during the demonstrations Thursday night.
The shooting is another violent incident involving immigration enforcement amid Trump’s crackdown across the country. In other cases, including the death of Renee Good in Minneapolis on January 7th, Homeland Security officials argued that the officers opened fire as a driver tried to run them over, a claim disputed by the video evidence.
Styles, 32, used his concerts as a platform for inclusion and reaching out for a long time. For instance, he often tells his audience that they are free to be whomever they want. He ended his message to fans after the deadly mass shooting near his Copenhagen venue with a statement similar to the one he made Saturday: “Please, look after each other.”
The Garden has a special meaning for his career. His 2022 residency, with 15 consecutive sold-out concerts at the venue, earned him a banner hanging in the Garden now.
