NYC Council employee detained by ICE despite having legal immigration status

Josephine Stratman and Chris Sommerfeldt, New York Daily News on Jan 12, 2026

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NEW YORK — A New York City Council employee from Venezuela was detained by ICE agents Monday — even though he has status to be in the U.S. legally, according to Council Speaker Julie Menin.

The employee, whose name is being withheld, was whisked away by ICE while at a routine immigration appointment Monday morning in Bethpage, Nassau County, Menin said.

His detention came though he has no criminal record and is on a work visa that allows him to stay in the U.S. at least through October, according to Council officials. He’s being held at an ICE detention facility on Varick Street in downtown Manhattan.

Lawyers with the New York Legal Assistance Group planned to file a habeas corpus complaint by Tuesday for the Council staffer, according to a source familiar with the matter. The man has a separate immigration attorney, but the Council’s attempts to reach that lawyer, as well as the man’s family, were unsuccessful, Menin said.

“We’ve seen aggressive escalations by ICE that threaten the freedom and safety of every American,” Menin said at a press conference about the detainment. “These escalations raise serious concerns about overreach, about the use of excessive force and about the lack of accountability. As New Yorkers, we will stand up for the rights of every single neighbor and for the dignity that they deserve.”

Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who spoke with Menin about the matter before the speaker’s press conference, echoed her sentiment.

“I am outraged to hear a New York City Council employee was detained in Nassau County by federal immigration officials at a routine immigration appointment,” he wrote in a post on X. “This is an assault on our democracy, on our city, and our values. I am calling for his immediate release and will continue to monitor the situation.”

ICE’s press office did not immediately return a request for comment.

According to Menin, the Council employee has worked as a data analyst on the Council’s central staff for about a year. Manhattan Congressman Dan Goldman, who joined Menin at her press conference at City Hall, said the employee is from Venezuela.

The employee’s detention is part of a broader effort by President Trump’s administration to boot millions of immigrants, both documented and undocumented, out of the U.S. under his pledged “mass deportation” campaign.

Outrage over Trump’s hard-line immigration crackdown escalated last week, when an ICE agent shot and killed Renee Nicole Good, an American citizen, in Minneapolis after they claimed she was obstructing their operations.

“We will continue to push for not only this person’s release, which is so obviously necessary, but for this immigration dragnet to stop, and it is unacceptable and un-American, and we have to continue to raise our voices and to make sure that this stops,” Goldman said.

This is the first time a Council staffer has been detained by ICE, according to Menin.

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