{"id":98549,"date":"2026-01-13T12:21:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-13T12:21:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/98549\/"},"modified":"2026-01-13T12:21:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-13T12:21:09","slug":"dhs-detains-nyc-council-employee-at-nassau-county-immigration-appointment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/98549\/","title":{"rendered":"DHS detains NYC Council employee at Nassau County immigration appointment"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!\n <\/p>\n

The Department of Homeland Security detained a New York City Council employee during an immigration appointment on Monday, leading to outrage from Mayor Zohran Mamdani<\/a>.<\/p>\n

DHS says the migrant, 53-year-old Rafael Andres Rubio Bohorquez, overstayed on a 2017 tourist visa. They also say he was arrested in an assault case. Mamdani and other city leaders demanded the man’s release on Monday.<\/p>\n

“I am outraged to hear a New York City Council employee was detained in Nassau County by federal immigration officials<\/a> at a routine immigration appointment,” Mamdani wrote in a statement on X. “This is an assault on our democracy, on our city, and our values. I am calling for his immediate release and will continue to monitor the situation.”<\/p>\n

DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin dismissed complaints, however, saying the department was fully justified in taking Bohorquez into custody.<\/p>\n

DHS DEMANDS LETITIA JAMES TAKE ACTION OVER NEW YORK’S REFUSAL TO HONOR ICE DETAINERS<\/a><\/p>\n

\"New <\/p>\n

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani demanded the release of a City Council employee detained by ICE. (Spencer Platt\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

“He had no legal right to be in the United States,” McLaughlin said. “Under Secretary Noem, criminal illegal aliens are not welcome in the United States. If you come to our country illegally and break our law, we will find you and we will arrest you.”<\/p>\n

NYC Council Speaker Julie Menin<\/a> held a press conference demanding the employee’s release on Monday, She claimed that the employee had been cleared to remain in the U.S. until October 2026.<\/p>\n

\"ICE <\/p>\n

Federal agents and law enforcement stand outside of 26 Federal Plaza in New York City. (Photo by Adam Gray\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

“DHS confirmed that this employee had gone in for a routine court appointment and was nevertheless detained. They provided no other basis for his detainment,” Menin said during a press briefing on Monday. “On the contrary, he was a city council employee who is doing everything right. He went to the court when he was asked.”<\/p>\n

NYC MAYOR-ELECT TELLS RESIDENTS HOW TO RESIST ICE AGENTS KNOCKING AT THEIR DOOR IN NEW VIDEO<\/a><\/p>\n

Menin said the employee works as a data analyst and has held the job for roughly one year. DHS, however, maintains the man is not authorized to work in the U.S.<\/p>\n

New York Attorney General Letitia James threw her weight behind calls for the employee’s release later Monday.<\/p>\n

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP<\/a><\/p>\n

“We will not stand for attacks on our city, its public servants, and its residents,” she wrote on X.<\/p>\n

Bohorquez is currently being held in an ICE facility in Manhattan.<\/p>\n

Anders Hagstrom is a reporter with Fox News Digital covering national politics and major breaking news events. Send tips to Anders.Hagstrom@Fox.com, or on X: @Hagstrom_Anders.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! The Department of Homeland Security detained a New York City…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":91423,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[2301,9,24,56,63,65,64,87,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-98549","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-city","8":"tag-immigration","9":"tag-new-york","10":"tag-new-york-city","11":"tag-ny","12":"tag-nyc","13":"tag-nyc-headlines","14":"tag-nyc-news","15":"tag-politics","16":"tag-zohran-mamdani"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98549","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=98549"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98549\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/91423"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98549"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=98549"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=98549"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}