The New York Metropolis Council vowed Wednesday to struggle an immigration decide’s “outrageous” resolution to deport a Venezuela-born metropolis knowledge analyst due to a lacking signature on his asylum software.
Immigration Choose Charles Conroy cited the technicality in his last deportation order for Rafael Rubio, 53, who has been jailed since January, when ICE officers hauled him away at what he believed was a routine check-in at a Lengthy Island immigration heart.
Choose Conroy — who has one in all New York Metropolis’s lowest asylum grant charges — issued his ruling after refusing to permit Rubio to repair the signature, which his lawyer mentioned he might handle in an hour, in line with Metropolis Council Speaker Julie Menin.
“That is an indefensible resolution,” Menin advised reporters at a press convention within the Metropolis Corridor rotunda.
“This was clearly an harmless defect.”
Menin mentioned the Council can be interesting Conroy’s ruling, which she referred to as “merciless” and “inhumane.”
“Raphael ought to be launched instantly. That is an outrageous resolution by the decide. There’s no justification for persevering with to detain him,” she advised reporters.
“We’ll proceed combating, as we now have each single day within the courts and past, till that is corrected,” Menin added.
“We would like Rafael again at work. He deserves to be again on the Metropolis Council and again right here at house in New York Metropolis.”
Rubio, whose full title is Rafael Andres Rubio Bohorquez, has non permanent protected immigration standing, his attorneys say.
The Trump Administration is at present attempting to bar Venezuela natives from being eligible for that sort of standing, with the US Supreme Court docket set to listen to arguments on the difficulty in April.
After Rubio’s January jailing drew outrage from New York elected officers, Division of Homeland Safety officers justified it partly by citing Rubio’s March 2023 arrest for an alleged assault in Queens. However that case was dismissed and faraway from Rubio’s file.
The info analyst handed a background verify earlier than he was employed to work for the Council in January 2025, sources conversant in the matter advised the Publish.
Rubio plans to enchantment Conroy’s ruling on the Board of Immigration Appeals, and can make a separate authorized movement for his case to be re-opened, in line with Menin.
The jailed staffer has additionally filed a lawsuit in Manhattan federal courtroom demanding his launch, however federal decide John Cronan has to date declined to order immigration officers to launch him.
Information of Rubio’s potential deportation got here as New York elected officers cheered separate information of a Bronx excessive schooler being sprung from custody after spending 10 months behind bars at a Pennsylvania ICE lockup.
Dylan Contreras, who was grabbed by ICE at an immigration courtroom listening to in Manhattan final Might, was launched early Wednesday morning and shall be reunited along with his family.
“All glory and honor belong to God, who opened doorways and made the inconceivable potential,” mentioned Raiza Contreras, Dylan’s mom, in a press release despatched out by his attorneys on the New York Authorized Help group.
The circumstances of Contreras’ launch weren’t instantly clear on Wednesday. However Contreras’ attorneys credited New York Metropolis Mayor Zohran Mamdani and New York Senator Chuck Schumer for his or her unspecified assist to win his freedom.
“We’re simply grateful that he’s lastly on his approach again house to his household and grateful for the assist and advocacy of the elected officers which have helped us to safe his launch,” a New York Authorized Help spokesperson advised The Publish.
DHS officers didn’t instantly reply to requests for touch upon Rubio or Contreras’ instances.
