NYC Council staffer detained by ICE

A New York City Council data analyst was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement while making a routine court appearance in Bethpage on Long Island on Monday, City Council Speaker Julie Menin told reporters.

Menin did not share many identifying details about the man, who she said is from Venezuela and has worked for the council for about a year. After he was detained, he was granted one phone call, Menin said, which he used to contact the council’s human resources department late Monday afternoon. Menin said there was no indication the man had done anything illegal, and he was permitted to work for the City Council until October. 

“This is an untenable situation. The fact that as the speaker of the City Council, I cannot get any information from ICE and had to call the Department of Homeland Security to get some information is unacceptable,” Menin said. She said she spoke to a deputy field office director from the Department of Homeland Security, who told her that the man was being detained at the federal facility on Varick Street in Manhattan.

A representative for the Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Mayor Zohran Mamdani said in a statement he was “outraged” and monitoring the situation. Gov. Kathy Hochul said “detaining people during routine court appearances erodes trust, spreads fear, and violates basic principles of fairness.” The City Council staffers’ union planned a protest to demand the release of their colleague on Tuesday.

Within hours of receiving notice of the man’s detention, Menin convened an emergency press conference with New York Immigration Coalition President Murad Awawdeh, Council Members Alexa Avilés, Harvey Epstein and Shaun Abreu and Rep. Dan Goldman. Goldman has made support for immigrants a central focus of his congressional office in recent months as ICE activity has ramped up in New York City under the Trump administration.

“This is the immigration dragnet that we are living in where secret masked police are killing Americans, are yanking anyone they can find out of cars out of homes out of courtrooms… and now targeting those who are trying to serve the public as employees of the New York City Council,” Goldman said. The arrest comes amid heightened tension between the Trump administration and liberal Democrats after an ICE agent shot and killed a woman in her car in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Wednesday. 

While Menin said “We are doing everything in our power to secure his immediate release,” Goldman sounded more pessimistic, saying the man was “likely on a path to removal unless it can be stopped.”