{"id":282437,"date":"2026-06-30T16:47:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-30T16:47:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/282437\/"},"modified":"2026-06-30T16:47:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-30T16:47:11","slug":"new-york-city-council-staffer-freed-from-ice-custody-after-being-detained-in-bethpage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/282437\/","title":{"rendered":"New York City Council staffer freed from ICE custody after being detained in Bethpage"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\"New\t\t\t<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Photo by Lloyd Mitchell<\/p>\n

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<\/a>, has been freed from federal custody after being held for five months.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought that it was a done deal for me, I thought that my life and my dreams were over,\u201d Rafael Andres Rubio Bohorquez said in a release on Friday, June 27. \u201cAnd what happened since is a miracle that I still can\u2019t quite believe.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Rubio had been legally permitted to stay in the U.S. until October, said City Council Speaker Julie Menin,\u00a0 who has publicly fought<\/a> to keep him in the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe could not be more overjoyed or inspired by Rafael\u2019s strength,\u201d Menin posted on X<\/a> on Saturday, June 27, after Rubio was released.<\/p>\n

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 \u201ccriminal illegal alien\u201d and said that his criminal history included an \u201carrest for assault.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe had no legal right to be in the United States,\u201d the U.S. Department of Homeland Secuity said in a statement on Jan. 13, the day after Rubio was taken into custody.<\/p>\n

According to The New York Times, court records show that Rubio\u2019s 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Menin called Ruboi\u2019s release a \u201cvictory for for due process, dignity, and basic fairness,\u201d and said that she wll stand besides him as his legal process continues to unfold.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom 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,\u201d she said in a statement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin announced a staffer, who had been detained by ICE, was freed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":282438,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[45278,108287,108288,2035,108289,9,24,55,54,56,63,33853],"class_list":["post-282437","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-bethpage","tag-city-counccil","tag-freed","tag-ice","tag-julia-menin","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-city-headlines","tag-new-york-city-news","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-the-daily"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282437","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=282437"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282437\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/282438"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=282437"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=282437"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=282437"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}