A New York City Council employee was detained by ICE agents on Long Island on Monday, according to Council President Julie Menin.
The worker — whose name was not released — works as a data analyst for the Council and was arrested during what was supposed to be a routine immigration hearing in Bethpage. According to Menin, the employee had legal permission to remain in the United States until October of this year.
“We became aware of this deeply disturbing situation late in the afternoon, when this employee called the Council’s Human Resources office for help and said he had been detained,” Menin said during an emergency press conference he called on January 12.
Compounding the situation, the City Council was initially unable to contact ICE for information about the detained employee.
“We immediately contacted the ICE office at the Bethpage facility, but alarmingly the phone number doesn’t even work – it says it’s disconnected. There is no public information on how to contact anyone who is detained at that facility,” Menin said. “There is no way to contact this person and I want to be clear: as City Council President, I cannot even call this ICE detention center to get information.”
Menin indicated that he later learned that the detainee, originally from Venezuela, was transferred to a detention center on Varick Street, in Lower Manhattan. He also stressed that the employee not only had a work visa, but had also never been arrested or convicted of any crime.
The president described the detention of the employee by ICE as an unprecedented “violation of freedom” and as a new sign that no one is safe from the actions of the federal agency.
“I want to say that this is the first time something like this has happened to a City Council employee and it should be the last. But, unfortunately, this violation of freedom is far from being an exception,” Menin said. “In light of recent events across the country, we have seen an aggressive escalation by ICE that threatens the freedom and safety of all people. These actions raise serious concerns about an excessive use of power.”
“At this time we are evaluating all legal options,” he added.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani said in a statement that he was “outraged” to learn of the Council employee’s arrest and publicly demanded his immediate release.
“This is an attack against our democracy, against our city and against our values,” Mamdani said. “I demand his immediate release and will continue to monitor the situation.”
Congressman Dan Goldman, who for months has denounced ICE operations in the city and at the immigration court at 26 Federal Plaza, also condemned the detention.
“I want to be very clear: There is no indication that there is any reason for his arrest beyond his immigration status,” Goldman said. “Venezuela, as we know, is going through a deep crisis. The president was recently kidnapped by the United States government. There is a temporary and chaotic government. There is nothing secure or stable in that country.”
The analyst had worked for the City Council for approximately a year and, according to people with knowledge of the case, made a single call to the Council’s Human Resources department to ask for help. As of Monday night, his colleagues had not been able to contact his family.
Queens Councilwoman Tiffany Cabán described the employee’s arrest as a “kidnapping.”
“A public servant was detained by ICE. Masked police kidnapping a City Council employee who works every day for New Yorkers does not make us safer,” he said. “Trump’s deportation agenda was never about security. It’s about blaming immigrants for problems caused by billionaires. Free our neighbors. Abolish ICE.”
The arrest comes amid citywide and national protests against ICE following the fatal shooting of Renee Nicole Good on January 7 as she attempted to drive away from masked and heavily armed ICE agents in Minneapolis. Immigration enforcement has become increasingly aggressive, sparking protests and unrest across the country.
