Overview
- The employee, a City Council data analyst from Venezuela, was taken into custody during a routine immigration appointment in Bethpage and transferred to ICE’s Varick Street facility in Manhattan.
- Homeland Security identified him as 53-year-old Rafael Andres Rubio Bohorquez and asserted he overstayed a 2017 tourist visa, lacks work authorization, and has a prior assault arrest.
- Council leaders counter that he had authorization to remain and work through October and say he attested to having no arrest history.
- City and state officials, including Mayor Zohran Mamdani, Attorney General Letitia James, and Rep. Dan Goldman, demanded his immediate release as staff unions and protesters rallied.
- A habeas corpus hearing is scheduled for Friday before Judge John Cronan, and officials say he cannot be moved out of state before the proceeding.