THE DAILY BS: HOW MUCH CAN YOU HANDLE?
SPARE ME THE BS (I’ve got things to do)
- After ICE agents shot Oscar Belgal in New York City, congressional candidate Darializa Avila Chevalier said his criminal history “doesn’t even matter.”
- Belgal, 28, has a robbery-related conviction, faces pending drug charges and is accused by federal authorities of gang ties. His attorney disputes ICE’s account of the shooting.
- Filmmaker Eli Steele says activists are turning Belgal into a political symbol while dismissing questions about his personal responsibility.
LAY IT ON ME (I’ve got time)
A New York congressional candidate’s reaction to an ICE shooting has drawn fresh scrutiny after she dismissed the wounded man’s criminal history and demanded the resignation of the city’s police commissioner.
Now filmmaker Eli Steele is challenging the argument behind her response, accusing activists of treating personal accountability as irrelevant whenever someone can be portrayed as a victim of government oppression.
The controversy began October 8, when Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents attempted to arrest 28-year-old Oscar Belgal in Manhattan’s Marble Hill neighborhood.
Belgal was sitting in his Honda CR-V with his five-year-old son when plainclothes agents approached the vehicle with guns drawn. Police surveillance footage showed Belgal driving away after an officer broke his driver’s-side window.
The confrontation continued about a block away, where an ICE agent fired seven shots, striking Belgal in the neck. His son was not physically injured.
Federal authorities say Belgal refused commands, used his SUV as a weapon and rammed government vehicles. His attorney disputes that account, arguing that Belgal panicked when armed, masked men approached his vehicle while his child was inside.
Investigators are examining the circumstances of the shooting, and its legality has not been determined.
But the political controversy intensified when New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch disclosed details of Belgal’s criminal history. According to records described in Steele’s Fox News column, Belgal pleaded guilty following a 2023 incident in which he allegedly threatened two passengers with a gun and demanded their jewelry. He received five years of probation. In December 2025, he was indicted on 10 narcotics-related counts. He pleaded not guilty, and those charges remain pending.
Federal authorities also allege that Belgal is in the United States illegally and has ties to the Trinitarios gang. Those allegations should not be treated as established criminal convictions.
During an appearance on commentator Hasan Piker’s livestream, Darializa Avila Chevalier, a Democratic Socialists of America congressional candidate in New York’s 13th District, was asked about Belgal’s criminal record.
Her response was blunt. “To me, it doesn’t even matter.” Chevalier accused Tisch of trying to “villainize Oscar” and demanded the police commissioner’s resignation.
She urged viewers to consider Belgal’s perspective as armed men approached his vehicle. “Put yourself in Oscar’s shoes,” she said. “You’re running,” she continued. “I’m sorry, you’re protecting your child.”
She ended with an explicit denunciation of ICE and a demand that the agency be abolished.
For Steele, those comments illustrate a much larger ideological problem. Writing for Fox News on Tuesday, Steele argued that activists had transformed Belgal from an individual whose actions could be examined into a symbol of oppression whose conduct was considered beside the point.
Steele connects that argument to his newly released documentary, “White Guilt,” featuring his father, author and Hoover Institution fellow Shelby Steele.
The younger Steele contends that some progressive activists treat the historical experiences of marginalized groups as a reason to minimize individual responsibility.
He argues that Chevalier’s reaction to the police commissioner’s disclosure exemplifies that approach: Rather than evaluating Belgal’s criminal history, she treated the disclosure itself as an attack.
Steele also criticizes New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who condemned the shooting and called ICE a “rogue” agency.
At an October 8 news conference, Mamdani described the agents as wearing construction vests and masks that concealed their faces.
“There was no reasonable way to identify them as ICE agents,” the mayor said.
He called the shooting “an outrage” and said the presence of Belgal’s young son made the incident especially alarming.
That concern is not limited to activists. The available video and conflicting accounts raise questions about how the operation was conducted and whether deadly force was justified.
Nor does Belgal’s criminal history, by itself, establish that the shooting was lawful.
Steele acknowledges that distinction, writing that the investigations and courts should determine the conduct of both the officer who fired and Belgal himself.
He also emphasizes the child’s experience. According to Belgal’s family, the boy has suffered nightmares following the shooting.
Belgal’s attorney has said his client’s first question after being shot concerned his son’s safety.
For Steele, that detail underscores his central argument: Belgal is a human being capable of concern for his child, but also an individual whose choices can be examined and judged.
Meanwhile, the FBI, Homeland Security investigators and the Bronx District Attorney’s Office are investigating the shooting.
The political argument is already underway. The legal conclusions are still to come.
DBS WIRE SOURCES (I have all day)
- Fox News Opinion — Eli Steele on the ICE shooting, Chevalier’s comments and personal responsibility
- Associated Press — Videos show how the New York City ICE shooting unfolded
- New York City Mayor’s Office — October 8 news conference transcript
