{"id":3081,"date":"2026-02-26T10:37:14","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T15:37:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/council.nyc.gov\/press\/?p=3081"},"modified":"2026-02-26T10:38:28","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T15:38:28","slug":"statement-from-speaker-julie-menin-on-city-council-employee-rafael-rubio","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/council.nyc.gov\/press\/2026\/02\/26\/3081\/","title":{"rendered":"Statement from Speaker Julie Menin on Status of Rafael Rubio, City Council Employee Detained by ICE"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>City Hall, NY \u2013<\/strong>\u00a0Today, New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin\u00a0issued the following statement on\u00a0the federal court\u2019s decision to delay the release of City Council employee Rafael Rubio, who has been in\u00a0federal\u00a0detention since January\u00a012, 2026:\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are deeply disappointed and outraged that our City Council colleague Rafael Rubio&nbsp;remains&nbsp;in federal custody.<\/p>\n<p>From the very beginning, we have said clearly: Rafael\u2019s detention was unlawful. He had legal authorization to remain in this country. There was no judicial warrant. And yet he was taken into custody at what should have been a routine immigration appointment.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>This is an employee who has done everything right. He&nbsp;complied with&nbsp;the law. He showed up for his appointment. He has served the people of New York City with integrity and dedication. He is beloved by his colleagues, and his absence has been deeply felt.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The New York City Council acted&nbsp;immediately.&nbsp;We filed an emergency habeas petition to ensure he remained in New York.&nbsp;Our General Counsel attended every hearing. We worked around the clock, filed an amicus brief demanding his release, and pressed for accountability at every level.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>We will pursue every legal avenue available to secure Rafael\u2019s release. We will continue to press for transparency and accountability. And we will continue to stand by him and his family during this painful and unacceptable ordeal.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">###<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><strong>City Hall, NY \u2013<\/strong>\u00a0Today, New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin\u00a0issued the following statement on\u00a0the federal court\u2019s decision to delay the release of City Council employee Rafael Rubio, who has been in\u00a0federal\u00a0detention since January\u00a012, 2026:\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are deeply disappointed and outraged that our City Council colleague Rafael Rubio&nbsp;remains&nbsp;in federal custody.<\/p>\n<p>&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><strong><small><a href=\"https:\/\/council.nyc.gov\/press\/2026\/02\/26\/3081\/\">READ MORE<\/a><\/small><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":219,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3081","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/council.nyc.gov\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3081","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/council.nyc.gov\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/council.nyc.gov\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/council.nyc.gov\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/219"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/council.nyc.gov\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3081"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/council.nyc.gov\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3081\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/council.nyc.gov\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3081"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/council.nyc.gov\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3081"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/council.nyc.gov\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3081"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}