There was a celebration in New York City over the release of a City Council employee who spent five months detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Eyewitness News reported. The homecoming closed a long and painful chapter for the worker and those who had pushed for his return.
The man at the center of the case is Rafael Rubio, an employee of the New York City Council. According to the report, he was taken into custody during an asylum interview, turning a routine step in his immigration process into months behind bars.
For the duration of his detention, Rubio was held outside the city. He was kept at the Delaney Hall Detention Center in Newark, across the river in New Jersey, while his case dragged on.
His situation drew support from within the institution where he worked. The City Council speaker took up his case, throwing official weight behind the effort to secure his release.
Rubio later described just how difficult the experience had been. Recalling the moment help arrived, he said that when he received that call during a late-night conversation, he felt like he went back to life, because he had been in a really dark place at that moment.
Now free, he spoke with gratitude about the city that had rallied around him. He said it felt great to be part of an ecosystem and a city that advocates for people in his situation.
The release was marked as a moment of relief and celebration for Rubio and his supporters. It also put a spotlight on the cases of those detained by immigration authorities, and on the role local officials can play in fighting for them.