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NYC immigrant whose ICE detention drew criticism in high places gets asylum
By
Arya Sundaram
Published Aug 11, 2026
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Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
By
Arya Sundaram
Published Aug 11, 2026
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The New York City Council data analyst whose arrest by immigration enforcement officers in January was denounced by Gov. Kathy Hochul and in local protests has been granted asylum, allowing him to remain in the United States, City Council Speaker Julie Menin announced Tuesday on social media.
Rafael Andres Rubio Bohorquez, who is originally from Venezuela, received permanent asylum from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services on Monday and is back to work at the City Council, according to a spokesperson for the Council.
“After seven months of uncertainty, anxiety and fear, Rafael can finally have some peace of mind knowing that he can continue to live and work here where he belongs,” Menin, who along with Mayor Zohran Mamdani and others championed Bohorquez’s case after his arrest during an immigration court appearance on Long Island, said in a statement.
Neither Bohorquez nor his attorney was immediately available for comment. There was no immediate comment from the Department of Homeland Security or USCIS.
Bohorquez’s arrest came to signify immigration advocates' criticism that the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown was not targeting the “worst of the worst,” as ICE officials have long maintained, but exceedingly ensnaring immigrants with no criminal history.
“[Analysts] are not the baddest of the bad,” Hochul said of Bohorquez during her State of the State address in January. “Is that person really a threat?”
A DHS spokesperson earlier justified Bohorquez’s detention, stating he had been arrested on a charge of assault in 2023, but court documents showed those charges were dismissed.
Bohorquez was arrested by ICE officers in January for allegedly overstaying his visa following an immigration appointment in Nassau County.
City officials, however, have contended that Bohorquez was a recipient of Temporary Protected Status, a humanitarian immigration protection for immigrants from certain war-torn and disaster-stricken countries, and authorized to live and work in the country through October of this year.
In March, a federal judge ordered Bohorquez's removal from the United States. At the time, Menin vowed to fight the decision, which she described as tied to a “procedural issue” related to his asylum application.
Bohorquez was released from ICE custody on June 19 on a $5,000 bond, after spending over 150 days in detention, including stints at the Metropolitan Detention Center, a federal prison in Brooklyn, and the Delaney Hall U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in Newark, New Jersey.
His release came after he was granted asylum in immigration court on May 27.
A City Council spokesperson, however, said that the asylum grant was only temporary, and USCIS granted Bohorquez a more permanent form of asylum on Monday, allowing him to live and work in the country indefinitely.
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City Council
Race And Justice Unit
immigration
new york city
Arya Sundaram
Arya is a reporter covering race and justice. Got a tip? Email: [email protected] or reach Arya on Signal at 512-650-8767.
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