{"id":357248,"date":"2025-11-05T10:48:26","date_gmt":"2025-11-05T10:48:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/357248\/"},"modified":"2025-11-05T10:48:26","modified_gmt":"2025-11-05T10:48:26","slug":"federal-judge-rules-ice-detention-of-nyc-officials-partner-illegal-orders-his-release","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/357248\/","title":{"rendered":"Federal judge rules ICE detention of NYC official’s partner illegal, orders his release"},"content":{"rendered":"

The romantic partner of a city deputy commissioner detained more than two months ago<\/a> by federal immigration agents has been released after a judge found his due process rights had been violated, the Daily News has learned.<\/p>\n

Nathaniel Rojas, a native of the Dominican Republic, had been held in an Orange County N.Y., jail since Aug. 28 when agents suddenly appeared at the Riverdale, Bronx, apartment where he lives with Deputy Correction Commissioner Wendy Garcia.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe court has determined that the government violated petitioner\u2019s procedural due process rights under the Constitution, and he is therefore entitled to release,\u201d Manhattan Federal Judge Lewis Liman wrote in a 17-page decision filed last week.<\/p>\n

Rojas\u2019 lawyer Reuben Kerben declined to comment.<\/p>\n

In laying out the intricate chronology of the case, Liman explained that Rojas has lived in the U.S. since 2000 and obtained status in 2009 as a lawful permanent resident.<\/p>\n

As The News previously reported<\/a>, he was convicted three times on criminal charges in 2017 for identity theft, credit card theft and drunken driving with a minor in the car. But he was not deported and worked for a Queens used car dealership and later landed a job with Lincoln Hospital in the Bronx.<\/p>\n

In December 2022, Rojas left the U.S. to visit the Dominican Republic, the Liman decision states. On his return a month later, immigration officials allowed him to reenter while his immigration case was still pending here.<\/p>\n

Rojas argued in an immigration proceeding in 2023 that he had a right to remain as a lawful permanent resident, had no aggravated felony convictions and was of good moral character, Liman wrote. As of June 2025, the case was pending in immigration court.<\/p>\n

\u201cRojas was paroled into the United States. He lived here freely for years. His parole status was never revoked,\u201d Liman continued.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is therefore entitled to notice of such revocation before it occurs, and an individualized explanation as to why. As the government concedes, that did not happen. He is therefore entitled to release.\u201d<\/p>\n

It remains unclear whether the government will attempt once again to deport Rojas. An \u00a0Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n

The case attracted attention not only because of Garcia\u2019s status in city government but because despite his criminal record, the job Rojas landed at the city-funded Lincoln Hospital was in patient relations, where he would have access to sensitive medical information.<\/p>\n

NYC Health + Hospitals spokesman Christopher Miller had told the News previously that Rojas applied for the Lincoln job via \u201cregular channels\u201d and was \u201csubject to standard background checks including fingerprinting.\u201d Miller also noted that criminal convictions don\u2019t \u201cnecessarily disqualify\u201d applicants from \u201cconsideration or eventual hire.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"NathanielNathaniel Rojas (far left) and Lincoln CEO Cristina Contreras (3rd from right). (Lincoln Hospital)<\/p>\n

The News had also reviewed photos that show Garcia and Lincoln CEO Cristina Contreras socializing in a number of settings, including at Garcia\u2019s birthday party in September 2023. Another picture shows Contreras giving Garcia an award at an Hispanic Heritage Month event at Lincoln Hospital in October 2024.<\/p>\n

Garcia was also previously married to a brother of Transportation Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez and worked for Rep. Adriano Espaillat D-Manhattan, Bronx).<\/p>\n

Reps for the Correction Department, Mayor Adams and NYC Health + Hospitals, which oversees Lincoln, did not immediately reply to requests for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The romantic partner of a city deputy commissioner detained more than two months ago by federal immigration agents…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":357249,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,728,405,403,8989,50,5226,5225,5228,5227,80,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-357248","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-local-news","10":"tag-new-york","11":"tag-new-york-city","12":"tag-new-york-politics","13":"tag-news","14":"tag-newyork","15":"tag-newyorkcity","16":"tag-ny","17":"tag-nyc","18":"tag-politics","19":"tag-united-states","20":"tag-united-states-of-america","21":"tag-unitedstates","22":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","23":"tag-us","24":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115496701654060163","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357248","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=357248"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357248\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/357249"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=357248"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=357248"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=357248"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}