{"id":173498,"date":"2026-03-24T17:54:25","date_gmt":"2026-03-24T17:54:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/173498\/"},"modified":"2026-03-24T17:54:25","modified_gmt":"2026-03-24T17:54:25","slug":"trump-appointed-judge-keeps-city-council-staffer-in-ice-detention","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/173498\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump-Appointed Judge Keeps City Council Staffer in ICE Detention"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Trump-appointed federal judge in New York\u2019s Southern District denied a City Council staffer\u2019s request for release from immigration detention Monday<\/a>, ruling his pending Temporary Protected Status didn\u2019t shield him from arrest and deportation.<\/p>\n

Rafael Andres Rubio Bohorquez, a personnel services data analyst for the City Council, has been in ICE detention since mid-January<\/a>, when ICE agents arrested him at an interview for his asylum case in a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services office in Bethpage, Long Island.\u00a0<\/p>\n

His arrest triggered uproar<\/a> from New York elected officials, who\u2019ve called for his release. Bohorquez, a Venezuelan native, had been a TPS holder with work authorization but the Trump administration argued they revoked his TPS status when they attempted to end the program last year.<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n

Many judges in the Southern District of New York have ruled favorably on behalf of immigrants snatched up in the Trump Administration\u2019s deportation dragnet, often ordering their releases within days.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But Bohorquez\u2019s case was assigned to Judge John Cronan, who ruled in the administration\u2019s favor on Monday<\/a>, agreeing that Bohorquez no longer had TPS and thus denying his habeas corpus petition for release.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Court\u2026 concludes that, as a factual matter, Rubio\u2019s TPS has been withdrawn,\u201d Cronan wrote.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Bohorquez\u2019s attorney, Roger Asmar, had submitted filings in federal court showing he had submitted the required paperwork to extend his TPS in mid-October, with his application still pending. The federal government, however, stopped reviewing those applications shortly after Trump took office.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Asmar couldn\u2019t be immediately reached for comment on Judge Cronan\u2019s decision.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone\u2019s application is still pending, more or less,\u201d said Jessica Bansal, an attorney with the National TPS Alliance, which is suing over the Trump Administration\u2019s attempt to end the designation. The matter is slowly making its way to the Supreme Court, and lower courts have ruled the move was illegal<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cMany Venezuelans never received a final decision on their pending TPS application,\u201d Bansal said. She explained that for years the standard practice had been TPS shielded you from arrest and deportation while the extension was pending, because USCIS often took a year to process applications, while the status itself only lasted for 18 months.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cTPS would be useless if it didn\u2019t work like that,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2018A Deeply Unjust Outcome\u2019<\/p>\n

At a hearing last month, Asmar had pointed to the case of a different, another Venezuelan TPS holder who was arrested by ICE and freed a week after he sudesude. <\/a>Before his release, the man, Hugo Alejandro Caldera Ferrer, became friends with Bohorquez when the two were being held at MDC, where ICE began detaining immigrants last year. <\/a>He joined Asmar in court in support of Bohorquez\u2019s release.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe guy is a really beautiful person,\u201d Hugo told a small crowd of reporters after the Feb. 26 hearing, saying that the two came from the same city in Venezuela and that his friend was having a difficult time behind bars. \u201cIt\u2019s hard when you\u2019re a good person, imagine tomorrow being in a federal maximum security prison, how would you feel if you were in his position?\u201d<\/p>\n

The denial of Bohorquez\u2019s habeas corpus petition is the latest blow in his fight for freedom from ICE detention. <\/a>Immigration Judge Charles Conroy first denied his release on bond<\/a> last month, finding he couldn\u2019t prove he wasn\u2019t a danger to society because of a now-sealed arrest for a scuffle with a roommate in 2023. Last week, Conroy ordered him deported, a decision his attorneys have said they plan to appeal.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Asked about Judge Cronan\u2019s ruling Monday, Council Speaker Julie Menin said she was disappointed, calling it a \u201cdeeply unjust outcome.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cRafael has had legal authorization to live and work in the United States and did everything he was asked to maintain good standing. He should be home while his immigration case proceeds, rather than suffering a prolonged detention,\u201d she said in an emailed statement. \u201cWe will continue to pursue every legal and advocacy pathway available to secure his release.\u201d<\/p>\n

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