Overview
- Rubio, a Venezuelan national and City Council data analyst, was detained by ICE on Jan. 12 during a scheduled asylum appointment in Bethpage and has remained in custody since.
- Immigration Judge Charles R. Conroy ordered removal to Venezuela after treating a missing signature on Rubio’s asylum paperwork as abandonment, despite his lawyer’s offer to promptly correct it.
- City officials and Rubio’s attorneys plan to appeal to the Board of Immigration Appeals by April 17 and are seeking his release while the case proceeds.
- Rubio also has a pending federal habeas corpus petition in Manhattan, where a judge has so far declined to order his release from custody.
- DHS says Rubio overstayed a 2017 tourist visa and lacked work authorization, while city leaders contend he had legal permission, including protections tied to TPS and employment clearance.