New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin announced a staffer, who had been detained by ICE, was freed months after being taken into custody in Bethpage.
Photo by Lloyd Mitchell
A New York City Council employee of Venezuelan descent, who was detained by U.S. Immigration Customas and Enforcement agents in January at a routine immigration hearing in Bethpage, has been freed from federal custody after being held for five months.
“I thought that it was a done deal for me, I thought that my life and my dreams were over,” Rafael Andres Rubio Bohorquez said in a release on Friday, June 27. “And what happened since is a miracle that I still can’t quite believe.”
Rubio, a data analyst for the City Council, was granted asylum in immigration court on May 27 and freed on a $5,000 bond on June 19, according to court records. The federal government has since filed an appeal challenging his asylum status, puting his future in the country in doubt.
Rubio had been legally permitted to stay in the U.S. until October, said City Council Speaker Julie Menin, who has publicly fought to keep him in the country.
“We could not be more overjoyed or inspired by Rafael’s strength,” Menin posted on X on Saturday, June 27, after Rubio was released.
The Department of Homeland Security had alleged that Rubio was in the country illegally and that he had a criminal history. It said he had entered the United States on a tourist visa in April 2017 that required him to leave by October 2017, called Rubio a “criminal illegal alien” and said that his criminal history included an “arrest for assault.”
“He had no legal right to be in the United States,” the U.S. Department of Homeland Secuity said in a statement on Jan. 13, the day after Rubio was taken into custody.
According to The New York Times, court records show that Rubio’s detention had hinged largely on a missing signature in his earlier application for asylum and on his arrest in 2023 on charges of assault and harassment; which were later dismissed.
Menin called Ruboi’s release a “victory for for due process, dignity, and basic fairness,” and said that she wll stand besides him as his legal process continues to unfold.
“From the very beginning, Rafael followed the rules, complied with the legal process, and deserved to have his case heard fairly and on the merits. Now, after months of our relentless advocacy and legal action, we are overjoyed he can finally return home to his loved ones and community,” she said in a statement.