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. The Department of Homeland Security, however, identified the man as Rafael Andres Rubio Bohorquez. DHS claimed that he had overstayed a tourist visa, which expired in 2017, and said he had been arrested for assault, though DHS did not say whether he had been convicted. 

“He had no legal right to be in the United States,” Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement. “Under Secretary Noem, criminal illegal aliens are not welcome in the United States. If you come to our country illegally and break our law, we will find you and we will arrest you.

The City Council disputed those claims. “Contrary to claims by DHS, the City Council employee provided documentation showing he was authorized to remain and work in the country. He fully cleared all background checks. Any suggestion to the contrary is false,” a council spokesperson wrote in a statement, adding that the employee was authorized to work under Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, and then was able to extend his work authorization even after President Donald Trump ended TPS for Venezuelans. City & State could not independently verify the employee’s legal status or alleged arrest record.

The Council added that this employee had gone through the standard vetting process. After he was detained, the staffer 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, 2026. 

“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.

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.”