Harry Styles took a moment to speak up for Oscar Belgal, a 28-year-old who was shot by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in New York City’s Marble Hill neighborhood on Oct. 8, during his sold-out show at Madison Square Garden.
"I just want us to take a moment to think about Oscar Belgal tonight," Styles said in videos shared by attendees on social media. "I want us to just think, [to] remember, to just look after each other."
While Styles did not explicitly call out ICE, he told the audience it is up to them "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," Styles said. "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."
Styles delivered his speech before performing "Sign of the Times," one of the final songs on his Together, Together setlist on Saturday, Oct. 10, according to Billboard.
Mamdani calls for 'ICE off our streets'
Belgal was shot by ICE on Oct. 8, according to NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who said agents surrounded the man and a 5-year-old child in his car before firing multiple times.
Mamdani said that the child was believed to be physically unharmed. He called the shooting near the Bronx “unconscionable” and said he had called President Donald Trump to demand that all ICE enforcement actions be halted in the city.
“I will not stand by while ICE agents terrorize our communities,” Mamdani wrote in an X post. "Get ICE out of our neighborhoods. Get ICE out of our hospitals. Get ICE off our streets. Get ICE away from our children."
Dept. of Homeland say victim has 'associations to the Trinitarios gang'
The Department of Homeland Security confirmed on X that an ICE officer shot a man they described as an illegal immigrant. It said ICE officers immediately rendered aid and that he is alive at a local hospital.
"ICE officers were conducting a targeted enforcement operation in the Bronx, New York, to arrest a criminal illegal alien from the Dominican Republic," Homeland Security said. "During the incident, an ICE officer discharged his weapon and the criminal illegal alien was injured."
The Homeland Security statement said the man who was shot has "a prior criminal conviction for grand larceny, and multiple prior arrests for assault, robbery, possession of drugs, and weapons possession. He has associations to the Trinitarios gang. The same gang who brutally killed a CBP officer last year."
Belgal 'living through an unimaginable nightmare,' counsels say
The New York Police Department said the person was taken to a nearby hospital and "is currently conscious and receiving medical attention."
Belgal's counsels, The Legal Aid Society and Make the Road New York, however, on Monday, Oct. 12 said their client is enduring "deplorable conditions" including "solitary confinement, lack of access to food, and inadequate medical care despite a bullet remaining lodged in his neck and his urgent need for surgery" while being detained at the Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) in Brooklyn.
“Mr. Belgal is living through an unimaginable nightmare. While he is currently in solitary confinement, a bullet remains lodged in his neck, the left side of his face is numb, and he can barely hear out of his left ear," the statement said. "Doctors have told him he urgently needs surgery, but that the procedure was too dangerous to perform Thursday evening without a specialized surgeon present. Although he was instructed to return to the hospital this week, he has been left in the dark about whether that surgery will even happen. He is also suffering from a shoulder wound caused by shattered glass during the incident."
Harry Styles MSG residency
Styles launched his Together Together tour in Amsterdam, wowing fans with a massive stadium production that followed him to London, São Paulo and Mexico City. F
The former One Direction band member kicked off his 30-show residency – his only U.S. dates this year − at Madison Square Garden on Aug. 26. During his first show, the Grammy winner paid tribute to Dolly Parton, raising his arm in a semi-salute as he said, "We love you, Dolly."
The MSG residency is set to wrap Oct. 31 (aka "Harry-ween") after which he'll head to Australia in December.
Contributing: María Luisa Paúl / USA TODAY
Saman Shafiq is a trending news reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at sshafiq@gannett.com and follow her on X and Instagram @saman_shafiq7.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Harry Styles speaks up for man shot by ICE agents in NYC
