Gov. Kathy Hochul, Mayor Zohran Mamdani and others decried last week’s ICE arrest of a City Council staffer during a routine asylum interview with federal officials, but a review by Gothamist found more than a dozen immigrants in similar circumstances.

Rafael Andres Rubio Bohorquez, a data analyst, was taken into custody Jan. 12, when he appeared for a scheduled asylum interview with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the agency that “oversees lawful immigration to the United States,” according to a lawsuit petitioning for his release.

But instead of sitting for the interview, he was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers and whisked into detention, court records show. While his imprisonment received notice in high places, Gothamist uncovered 14 other immigration arrests at the New York asylum office in Bethpage from attorneys, court records and newspaper reports.

Other reports have surfaced of ICE arrests at asylum offices in Houston, Newark, San Francisco, and Los Angeles — all part of what immigration advocates and attorneys said is the Trump administration’s crackdown on both illegal and legal immigration.

Immigration attorneys have decried the practice, saying such arrests unfairly penalize immigrants who are pursuing lawful channels to remain in the country. The singling out of asylum-seekers is particularly concerning, critics say, because they are pursuing claims to remain in the country because of fear of persecution in their home countries.

“It makes a mockery of our asylum system,” said Sara Greenberg, an immigration attorney at the Legal Aid Society. One of her clients was detained at the New York asylum office in October.

“It’s really troubling that people are complying with the directives of the immigration system and making sure that they take the appropriate steps, and then they’re being detained at an interview,” said Craig Relles, a Westchester-based immigration attorney who said four of her clients were detained at the Bethpage asylum office.

“An interview that they’re going to voluntarily — not because they’ve committed a crime, not because they’ve been turned over by a local police department,” Relles said. “But more because simply they’re easy prey and they’re doing what they’ve been told.”

USCIS Spokesman Matthew J. Tragesser said in a statement, “Apprehensions at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services offices may occur if individuals are identified as having outstanding warrants; being subject to court-issued removal orders; or having committed fraud, crimes, or other violations of immigration law while in the United States.”

USCIS did not respond to more specific questions about ICE arrests at USCIS offices. Tragesser referred further comment to ICE, whose parent agency, the Department of Homeland Security, did not respond.

Some individuals detained at the New York asylum office were arrested after hours-long interviews where they recounted their fears of violence and persecution in their home countries. Others, like Bohorquez, an immigrant from Venezuela, were arrested before their asylum interviews were set to begin.

A credible fear interview, then an arrest

Greenberg said her client was arrested shortly after passing what’s known as a “credible fear interview,” one of the first hurdles in the asylum process, to determine if an individual has a significant possibility of facing persecution or torture if they return to their home country.

Immigration attorneys say arrests at the New York asylum office remain rare but have become more frequent under the Trump administration, which has transformed once-routine appointments at a range of federal immigration offices and courts into what critics see as a dragnet for immigration enforcement.

The attorneys who spoke with Gothamist, some with decades of experience, said they had never had a client detained at an asylum interview under previous administrations.

Asylum-seekers made up the majority of more than 240,000 migrants who funneled through New York City’s shelters in recent years. They largely pursue their asylum claims in immigration courts or at offices across the country run by USCIS, such as the one in Bethpage.

Asylum-seekers have been among the groups of immigrants caught in the cross-hairs of the Trump administration’s crackdown on legal immigration.

A federal court in July blocked the Trump administration’s policy aimed at shutting down asylum claims at the U.S.-Mexico border. In early December, the Trump administration placed a hold on all asylum applications filed with Citizenship and Immigration Services, stopping any new decisions on pending asylum applications.

Among the immigrants arrested in the past year at the New York asylum office are Gokhan Polat, a Brooklyn resident from Turkey who was arrested on Oct. 20; Deybin Jose Rivas Rodriguez, a Far Rockaway, Queens resident from Nicaragua who was arrested on Oct. 17; Ali Faqirzada, an Afghan immigrant in his early 30s residing in Ulster County who was arrested on Oct. 14; and Luis Fernandez, a former waiter at Square Diner in Tribeca from Ecuador in his early 50s who was arrested on June 24.

Several lawyers for individuals detained at the Bethpage facility said their clients had no criminal histories. Some have since been released from custody under the orders of federal judges.

“ The people are law-abiding people who are doing everything that they’re told and basically they’re being entrapped,” Reuben Kerben, a Queens-based immigration attorney, said.

Disagreement over facts

City and federal officials disagree about whether Bohorquez, the City Council staffer arrested by ICE, had permission to live and work in the U.S.

DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said Bohorquez had no work authorization or legal immigration status, having overstayed a tourist visa in 2017. But City Council Deputy Press Secretary Jack Lobel said Bohorquez provided documentation showing he was authorized to remain and work in the country and fully cleared all background checks.

During Erika Rodriguez-Acurio’s asylum interview, the 30-year-old Glendale, Queens, resident recounted the domestic and gender-based violence she said she experienced in Ecuador, including being severely beaten by her ex-husband until she lost consciousness and being harassed by police, according to court documents.

Shortly after the interview, the asylum officers asked her to enter a side room, where two ICE officers arrested her, court documents said. Rodriguez-Acurio’s attorney told the officers that her 3-year-old child would be left without a caretaker if she was arrested. When the attorney asked about the reason for her detention, one of the officers acknowledged that it was unusual given her lack of a criminal record, according to the court documents.

“This is just a sign of the times,” the officer said, according to the documents.

In the New York City area, 58% percent of the immigrants arrested by ICE under Trump through mid-October had no criminal history. Another 16% had pending criminal charges. A little more than a quarter of the arrested had criminal convictions.

Joe Hong contributed reporting.