What happened yesterday afternoon in the busy upper Manhattan neighborhood of Marble Hill was deeply disturbing. Just as students were leaving school, plainclothes ICE officers wearing construction vests surrounded the car of a Dominican immigrant, Oscar Belgal, assault weapons drawn, as his five-year-old son sat behind him in his child’s car seat. Multiple shots were fired, hitting Mr. Belgal in the neck. He was handcuffed and left by ICE on the ground, while his young child watched in terror.

This is unjust, horrific, and unacceptable.

And this is not an isolated incident. The ICE campaign in New York City is part of a broader campaign of fear directed at immigrant communities across the country. It is the deliberate use of intimidation, trauma, and violence to make people feel unsafe in their homes, on their streets, and in their daily lives. No parent should fear being taken from their child. No child should witness this kind of violence. No human being should be treated this way. Tonight, we will join our community in Foley Square to demand justice.

Housing Works was founded on the principle that every human being deserves dignity, safety, and the right to live free from fear. We have spent more than three decades serving communities that have too often been marginalized, criminalized, and abandoned. We know from our work that fear is not public policy. Trauma is not public safety. Violence is not a pathway to stronger communities.

What happened yesterday was horrifying and silence is not an option. We must make it clear that we will not accept the normalization of fear and violence against our colleagues and neighbors. Solidarity is not abstract. It is how communities protect one another in moments like these.

This is a moment that demands courage and action. We will meet it together.