City Council vows to fight staffer’s ‘outrageous’ deportation over ‘missing signature’

The New York City Council vowed Wednesday to fight an immigration judge’s “outrageous” decision to deport a Venezuela-born city data analyst because of a missing signature on his asylum application.

Immigration Judge Charles Conroy cited the technicality in his final deportation order for Rafael Rubio, 53, who has been jailed since January, when ICE officers hauled him away at what he believed was a routine check-in at a Long Island immigration center.

Judge Conroy — who has one of New York City’s lowest asylum grant rates — issued his ruling after refusing to allow Rubio to fix the signature, which his lawyer said he could take care of in an hour, according to City Council Speaker Julie Menin. 

“This is an indefensible decision,” Menin told reporters at a press conference in the City Hall rotunda.

“This was clearly an innocent defect.”

Menin said the Council would be appealing Conroy’s ruling, which she called “cruel” and “inhumane.”

“Raphael should be released immediately. This is an outrageous decision by the judge. There’s no justification for continuing to detain him,” she told reporters.

“We will continue fighting, as we have every single day in the courts and beyond, until this is corrected,” Menin added.

“We want Rafael back at work. He deserves to be back at the City Council and back here at home in New York City.”

Rubio, whose full name is Rafael Andres Rubio Bohorquez, has temporary protected immigration status, his lawyers say.

The Trump Administration is currently trying to bar Venezuela natives from being eligible for that type of status, with the US Supreme Court set to hear arguments on the issue in April.

After Rubio’s January jailing drew outrage from New York elected officials, Department of Homeland Security officials justified it in part by citing Rubio’s March 2023 arrest for an alleged assault in Queens. But that case was dismissed and removed from Rubio’s record.

The data analyst passed a background check before he was hired to work for the Council in January 2025, sources familiar with the matter told the Post.

Rubio plans to appeal Conroy’s ruling at the Board of Immigration Appeals, and will make a separate legal motion for his case to be re-opened, according to Menin.

The jailed staffer has also filed a lawsuit in Manhattan federal court demanding his release, but federal judge John Cronan has so far declined to order immigration officials to release him.

News of Rubio’s possible deportation came as New York elected officials cheered separate news of a Bronx high schooler being sprung from custody after spending 10 months behind bars at a Pennsylvania ICE lockup.

Dylan Contreras, who was grabbed by ICE at an immigration court hearing in Manhattan last May, was released early Wednesday morning and will be reunited with his relatives.

“All glory and honor belong to God, who opened doors and made the impossible possible,” said Raiza Contreras, Dylan’s mother, in a statement sent out by his lawyers at the New York Legal Assistance group.

The circumstances of Contreras’ release were not immediately clear on Wednesday. But Contreras’ lawyers credited New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and New York Senator Chuck Schumer for their unspecified help to win his freedom.

“We’re just grateful that he’s finally on his way back home to his family and thankful for the support and advocacy of the elected officials that have helped us to secure his release,” a New York Legal Assistance spokesperson told The Post.

DHS officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Rubio or Contreras’ cases.