Overview
- The employee, a Venezuelan data analyst on the Council’s central staff for about a year, was detained in Bethpage and transferred to the federal facility at 201 Varick Street in Manhattan.
- City officials say he has authorization to live and work in the U.S. through October and no criminal record, according to Speaker Julie Menin.
- Menin said DHS confirmed only that he attended a routine appointment and provided no basis for taking him into custody, and ICE and DHS did not immediately comment.
- Mayor Zohran Mamdani, Attorney General Letitia James, and Rep. Dan Goldman demanded his immediate release as the Council reported his single phone call went to its HR office and colleagues initially could not reach his family.
- NYLAG is preparing an emergency habeas petition and the Council staffers’ union announced a noon Tuesday rally outside Varick Street, with the incident spotlighting stepped-up ICE enforcement following recent high-profile controversies.