{"id":99089,"date":"2026-01-13T19:30:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-13T19:30:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/99089\/"},"modified":"2026-01-13T19:30:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-13T19:30:08","slug":"nyc-council-employees-arrest-sparks-protests-and-a-dispute-over-his-immigration-status","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/99089\/","title":{"rendered":"NYC Council employee\u2019s arrest sparks protests and a dispute over his immigration status"},"content":{"rendered":"

NEW YORK \u2013 A New York City Council employee was arrested in the Trump administration\u2019s immigration<\/a> crackdown, enraging city officials and prompting a protest Tuesday outside the Manhattan detention center where he was being held.<\/p>\n

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement<\/a> said Rafael Andres Rubio Bohorquez had long overstayed a tourist visa, had once been arrested for assault, and \u201chad no legal right to be in the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n

City Council Speaker Julie Menin disputed that, telling reporters that Rubio Bohorquez, a data analyst for the city legislative body, was legally authorized to work in the U.S. until October.<\/p>\n

Menin, a Democrat, said the council employee signed a document as part of his employment confirming that he had never been arrested and cleared the standard background check conducted for all applicants.<\/p>\n

The New York Immigration Coalition and New York Legal Assistance Group filed a petition after Rubio Bohorquez’s arrest Monday asking a court to order his release, Menin and Rep. Dan Goldman, D-N.Y., said in a statement.<\/p>\n

ICE confirmed Rubio Bohorquez\u2019s name. Menin and Goldman referred to him only as a council employee. She said she was doing so to protect his identity. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe are doing everything we can to secure his immediate release,\u201d Menin said at a Monday evening news conference. She decried the arrest as \u201cegregious government overreach.\u201d<\/p>\n

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani<\/a>, a Democrat, said he was \u201coutraged,\u201d calling the arrest \u201can assault on our democracy, on our city, and our values.\u201d<\/p>\n

Menin said officials were attempting to reach his family and obtain contact information for his immigration lawyer.<\/p>\n

Rubio Bohorquez, originally from Venezuela, was detained at an immigration appointment in Bethpage, on Long Island, authorities said. Menin called it a regular check-in that \u201cquickly went awry.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to ICE, Rubio Bohorquez entered the U.S. in 2017 on a B2 tourist visa and was required to leave the country by Oct. 22, 2017. He has been employed by the City Council for about a year, Menin said. His position pays about $129,315 per year, according to city payroll data.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe had no work authorization,\u201d ICE said in a statement confirming Rubio Bohorquez\u2019s arrest. The agency, part of the Department of Homeland Security, said that under Secretary Kristi Noem \u201ccriminal 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

Disputes over an immigrant\u2019s work authorization have arisen before<\/a>, in part because many employers rely on a robust but flawed government system called E-Verify.<\/a> The tool compares information entered by an employer from an employee\u2019s documents with records available to Homeland Security and the Social Security Administration.<\/p>\n

Experts say the system is generally accurate in terms of matching documents, but it doesn\u2019t automatically notify an employer if an employee\u2019s right to work is revoked after it has already been verified.<\/p>\n

A 2021 Inspector General review concluded that until the government addresses E-Verify\u2019s shortcomings, \u201cit cannot ensure the system provides accurate employment eligibility results.\u201d<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW YORK \u2013 A New York City Council employee was arrested in the Trump administration\u2019s immigration crackdown, enraging…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":99090,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[5320,153,19077,2036,9,24,55,54,56,45614,421,420],"class_list":{"0":"post-99089","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-city","8":"tag-dan-goldman","9":"tag-donald-trump","10":"tag-julie-menin","11":"tag-kristi-noem","12":"tag-new-york","13":"tag-new-york-city","14":"tag-new-york-city-headlines","15":"tag-new-york-city-news","16":"tag-ny","17":"tag-rafael-andres-rubio-bohorquez","18":"tag-u-s-news","19":"tag-washington-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99089","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=99089"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99089\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/99090"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=99089"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=99089"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=99089"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}