The New York City Council is slated to reconvene Thursday to vote on committee assignments and leadership positions. But heading into the first stated meeting since federal immigration agents detained a City Council data analyst, the staffer’s absence will likely hang heavy on everyone’s minds.
Rafael Andres Rubio Bohorquez, who had worked for the council for about a year, was detained by immigration agents while reporting for a routine immigration hearing in Long Island on Monday. According to his attorneys, he’d filed a timely asylum application and had work authorization.
Like many Venezuelans living in the United States, Bohorquez lived in the country legally for years with Temporary Protected Status – a program that allows eligible individuals from certain countries to live in the U.S. because of unsafe conditions in their home countries. The Trump administration has moved to end TPS for many countries, plunging its recipients into legal uncertainty. The Department of Homeland Security has claimed that Bohorquez overstayed a tourist visa, which expired in 2017, and said he had been arrested for assault, though DHS did not say whether he had been convicted.
Bohorquez’s arrest spurred immediate outrage from both within and beyond the City Council. Top officials like City Council Speaker Julie Menin, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Gov. Kathy Hochul have all condemned the situation – as have a bevy of council members. On Tuesday, City Council staff, members and other allies rallied outside of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office in lower Manhattan to demand Bohorquez’s release.
Thursday’s stated meeting will center primarily on committees and leadership positions, according to a spokesperson for the speaker’s office. The temporary Committee on Rules, Privileges and Elections will first vote to recommend committee assignments, followed by a vote from the council’s 51 members. City & State recently reported that Menin made up her mind early on at least five of her top appointments: Shaun Abreu as majority leader, Nantasha Williams as deputy speaker, Linda Lee as finance chair, Kevin Riley as land use chair and Farah Louis as chair of the Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises.
Any potential overrides of the more than a dozen measures vetoed by former Mayor Eric Adams last month on his way out the door will take place at a future meeting. Those were all received by the City Council on Jan. 7, kicking off the 30-day clock for members to take action.
Ahead of Thursday’s meeting, City & State also learned that Brooklyn Council Member Jennifer Gutiérrez will chair a new subcommittee on early child care. It’s a big role, one likely to have a lot to do over the next year with Gov. Kathy Hochul, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Menin all in alignment on expanding early child care. The topic previously fell under the general education committee.
“I’m deeply grateful to Speaker Julie Menin for making child care and early childhood education a standalone committee this year and honored that she has tapped me to lead it,” Gutiérrez said in a statement. “We’ve worked in close partnership on this issue for the past four years, and this decision reflects how seriously she understands both the urgency and the complexity of getting child care right.”
