"He's given one call. He called HR at the City Council, who then alerted me. Menin's team knew to involve lawyers, but she couldn't personally reach the Bethpage asylum facility. At that time, she said, the number that came up on Google was disconnected. Calls directly to the Department of Homeland Security also went nowhere: They said that they're not releasing him."
"Two weeks later an immigration judge decided not to let Rubio out on bond, claiming Rubio hadn't proven that he was not a danger to the community. Yet Rubio passed a background check to work for the council; and he had no criminal history in New York City, according to the NYPD."
"It quickly became a case of opposite extremes. In an initial attempt to protect him, the council did not release his name. But DHS did, referring to him as Rafael Andres Rubio Bohorquez. The agency's press release called the 45-year-old Venezuelan native illegally employed and a criminal. But in a court filing from the council, he was described as a person of excellent moral character."
Rafael Rubio, a personnel services employee at New York City Council, was arrested by ICE on January 13 during a routine asylum appointment in Bethpage, Long Island. He was detained and shuffled between facilities, including one in Orange County. An immigration judge denied him bond, claiming he hadn't proven he wasn't a danger to the community. However, Rubio had passed a background check for his council position and had no criminal history in New York City. City Council Speaker Julie Menin and his legal team struggled to locate him and secure his release. The Department of Homeland Security labeled him as illegally employed and a criminal, while the council described him as a person of excellent moral character.
Read at City & State NY
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]