A Venezuelan national employed by the New York City Council has been taken into federal custody by immigration authorities, igniting a fresh clash between progressive city leaders and a federal government finally enforcing long-ignored immigration laws.
According to Western Journal, City Council Speaker Julie Menin said the staffer was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Monday afternoon while attending what Democrats describe as a routine immigration appointment in Bethpage on Long Island. He was subsequently transferred to a federal detention facility on Varick Street in Manhattan, a move that has prompted loud accusations of overreach from New Yorks political class but has been defended by federal officials as a straightforward enforcement action.
Menin identified the aide as Rubio Bohorquez and insisted he had legal authorization to work in the United States through October. She further claimed Bohorquez had been employed by the city for about a year and had signed an attestation stating he had never been arrested, according to WNYW-TV.
Federal officials with the Department of Homeland Security, however, offered a sharply different account that undercuts the narrative of a compliant, law-abiding immigrant targeted without cause. Bohorquez, DHS said, had overstayed his 2017 tourist visa, lacked any valid work authorization and had an arrest for assault on his record.
DHS stated that Bohorquez, 53, entered the United States on a B-2 tourist visa in 2017, which required him to depart by Oct. 22 of that year. On Jan. 12, ICE New York City arrested Rafael Andres Rubio Bohorquez, a criminal illegal alien from Venezuela and an employee of New Yorks City Council. His criminal history includes an arrest for assault. He had no work authorization, DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said.
McLaughlin emphasized that Bohorquez had no legal right to be in the United States, directly contradicting the claims made by New York City officials. She added, 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.
Menin said Bohorquez used his single phone call from custody to contact the council for help, underscoring how deeply embedded he had become within the citys political apparatus. Despite every indication that he was doing everything the right way, he still found himself a victim of egregious government overreach, Menin said.
These escalations raise serious concerns about overreach, about the use of excessive force and about the lack of accountability, she continued, framing the arrest as a civil-rights issue rather than a straightforward immigration case. We are doing everything we can to secure his immediate release, and we demand swift and transparent action by the federal government on this apparent overreach.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani echoed that outrage on X, aligning himself with the citys broader sanctuary-style posture that has long put it at odds with federal enforcement. I am outraged to hear a New York City Council employee was detained in Nassau County by federal immigration officials at a routine immigration appointment, Mamdani posted.
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, he added, casting the enforcement of federal law as a threat to values rather than a basic obligation of government. While New Yorks progressive leadership rushes to defend a criminal illegal alien, as DHS describes him, the episode highlights a deeper divide: whether the United States will remain a nation of laws, as conservatives and President Trumps supporters insist, or a sanctuary for those who violate immigration rules and then demand taxpayer-funded protection.
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