Mamdani Furious After ICE Arrests Illegal Alien City Council Staffer

Mamdani Furious After ICE Arrests City Council Staffer: Politics, Policy, and the Immigration Divide

In early January 2026, New York City became the epicenter of a heated national discussion about immigration enforcement, sanctuary policies, and federal-local relations when a City Council employee was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) during a routine immigration appointment. The incident drew immediate condemnation from Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who called the arrest an “assault on our democracy, on our city, and our values,” and demanded the staffer’s immediate release.

This moment — a federal enforcement action colliding with progressive local leadership — encapsulates many of the tensions shaping U.S. immigration debates today. From sanctuary city protections to the question of federal authority, from public safety concerns to the rights of immigrant communities, this episode is about far more than a single arrest. It exposes deep political fractures and broader questions about who gets to define America’s immigration policies and at what cost.

The Incident: What Happened

On January 12, 2026, a staffer for the New York City Council — later identified as Rafael Andres Rubio Bohorquez, a Venezuelan national working as a data analyst — was detained by ICE agents at a routine immigration court check-in in Bethpage, Long Island. According to federal officials, the staffer allegedly overstayed a 2017 B-2 tourist visa and had no valid authorization to remain or work in the United States.

City officials, however, immediately pushed back. Mayor Mamdani, who began his term as New York City’s first socialist mayor on January 1, 2026, described the arrest as egregious government overreach and demanded the staffer’s release — framing the detention as a direct attack on the city’s values, its immigrant communities, and local autonomy.

At a press briefing, City Council Speaker Julie Menin said the council had filed an emergency petition on behalf of the employee to prevent removal from the state while the case works its way through legal channels, and that the staffer had been “doing everything right” and complied with his immigration obligations.

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