Jan. 13 (UPI) -- The New York City Council employee detained by federal immigration agents during a routine court appearance on Monday was illegally in the country, according to the Department of Homeland Security, which on Tuesday painted a drastically different portrait of the employee than the one presented by city officials a day earlier.
The detention of the man, identified by DHS as Rafael Andres Rubio Bohorquez, drew near immediate anger from New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin, who on Monday described the employee's arrest as an example of the Trump administration's government overreach.
She said the immigrant from Venezuela was legally able to work in the United States until October. She said that in January he signed an attestation that he has never been arrested. Rep. Dan Goldman, D-N.Y., said there was nothing about the employee that warranted his arrest other than that he is an immigrate from Venezuela.
The DHS on Tuesday refuted the characterization of Rubio Bohorquez, calling him a "criminal illegal alien" who overstayed his B-2 tourist visa in 2017, that required him to leave the country by Oct. 22 of that year.
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