The New York Metropolis Council vowed Wednesday to combat an immigration choose’s “outrageous” choice to deport a Venezuela-born metropolis knowledge analyst due to a lacking signature on his asylum utility.
Immigration Choose Charles Conroy cited the technicality in his remaining 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 among New York Metropolis’s lowest asylum grant charges — issued his ruling after refusing to permit Rubio to repair the signature, which his lawyer stated he may handle in an hour, based on Metropolis Council Speaker Julie Menin.
“That is an indefensible choice,” Menin informed reporters at a press convention within the Metropolis Corridor rotunda.
“This was clearly an harmless defect.”
Menin stated the Council could be interesting Conroy’s ruling, which she known as “merciless” and “inhumane.”
“Raphael ought to be launched instantly. That is an outrageous choice by the choose. There’s no justification for persevering with to detain him,” she informed reporters.
“We are going to proceed combating, as we’ve got 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 identify is Rafael Andres Rubio Bohorquez, has non permanent protected immigration standing, his attorneys say.
The Trump Administration is at present making an attempt to bar Venezuela natives from being eligible for that sort of standing, with the US Supreme Courtroom set to listen to arguments on the problem 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 report.
The info analyst handed a background verify earlier than he was employed to work for the Council in January 2025, sources accustomed to the matter informed the Submit.
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, based on Menin.
The jailed staffer has additionally filed a lawsuit in Manhattan federal court docket demanding his launch, however federal choose 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 court docket listening to in Manhattan final Could, was launched early Wednesday morning and will likely be reunited together with his relations.
“All glory and honor belong to God, who opened doorways and made the inconceivable potential,” stated 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 help and advocacy of the elected officers which have helped us to safe his launch,” a New York Authorized Help spokesperson informed The Submit.
DHS officers didn’t instantly reply to requests for touch upon Rubio or Contreras’ circumstances.
