New York City Council Speaker Condemns Judge’s Order to Deport Staffer

New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin on March 18 condemned a decision by an immigration judge to deport a staffer to Venezuela.

She said in a statement that the council was “outraged” that Judge Charles Conroy ordered the removal of Rafael Rubio, the council employee, on March 18 after he was arrested more than two months ago during a routine immigration check.

Following his arrest, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said in a Jan. 13 statement that Rubio was an illegal immigrant with a criminal history that “includes an arrest for assault in New York.”

The DHS said that Rubio had entered the United States on a B-2 tourist visa in 2017, which required him to leave by Oct. 22, 2017, and that he had “no legal right to be in the United States.”

“A criminal illegal alien with no authorization to work in the U.S. being employed by the New York City Council is shocking,” a DHS spokesperson said at the time.

Menin said on March 18 that a “technical error” should not determine Rubio’s fate.

“Today, in immigration court, Judge Conroy deemed Rafael’s asylum application, quote unquote, ‘abandoned’ based on a technical issue related to a missing signature,” she told reporters. “The judge refused to allow the issue to be corrected. … That is not justice. That is an extreme, cruel, inhumane outcome based on a technical procedural issue.”

Menin said in her statement that an appeal will be filed, and she called for Rubio’s release from detention pending the appeal.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said in a March 18 post on X that Rubio should be released immediately.

“This is an affront to justice,” Mamdani said. “A dedicated public servant with legal authorization to remain in the country, Rafael showed up for a routine immigration appointment, and, despite following the rules, he was detained and has now been held for months.”

The Epoch Times reached out to Rubio’s attorney, the Department of Justice, and the DHS for comment but did not receive any responses.

In December 2025, the DHS estimated that 2.5 million illegal immigrants had left the United States under the Trump administration, a combination of more than 600,000 deportations and roughly 1.9 million self-deportations.

In recent weeks and months, some Republicans have expressed their support for mass deportations.

On March 4, Rep. Brandon Gill (R-Texas) wrote in a post on X that “mass deportations are non-negotiable.”

“If you’re here illegally, the only process you’re due is deportation,” he wrote.

Democrats and Republicans are currently in a standoff over funding for the DHS, which has been shut down for nearly a month.

Last week, the president also announced his plan to replace DHS Secretary Kristi Noem with Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.).

Noem is set to be the special envoy for the Shield of the Americas, a new Western Hemisphere security initiative.

Nathan Worcester contributed to this report.