NYC Council staffer ordered deported by immigration judge

Josephine Stratman, New York Daily News on Mar 18, 2026

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NEW YORK — An immigration judge denied New York City Council staffer Rafael Rubio’s asylum case and ordered his removal from the U.S. on Wednesday.

Judge Charles Conway ordered Rubio removed because of a missing signature on his asylum paperwork, Council Speaker Julie Menin said, adding that Rubio’s lawyer plans to appeal the decision.

“We are absolutely outraged by this decision,” Menin said from City Hall, calling the judge’s ruling a violation of federal procedure.

“At every single step, Rafael has followed the rules,” she said. “He showed up, he complied with everything that had been asked. He did every single thing that was asked of him. And yet today, a judge made the cruel and inhumane decision to deny him the opportunity to correct a technical error.”

Menin said that Rubio’s attorney, Roger Asmar, offered to cure the issue within the hour, but the judged denied him that opportunity, ordering his client be deported back to his home country of Venezuela.

Asmar did not respond to requests for comment.

Rubio, a data analyst, still has a separate habeas corpus case contesting his detainment, meaning he won’t be immediately deported.

Judge Conway, who ordered his deportation, has among the lowest rates of granting asylum among judges in the city, a 2024 report found.

Rubio was taken by ICE in January while at a routine immigration appointment in Bethpage, in Nassau County on Long Island.

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 City Council officials.

He’s currently being held at a jail in Hudson County, court records show.

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(With Molly Crane-Newman.)

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