More rallies are planned Tuesday in support of a New York City Council data analyst detained by federal immigration officials during a routine court appointment on Long Island a day ago — a detention that has drawn the ire of community members, advocates and top local and state government official s. Mayor Zohran Mamdani said in a post on X Monday afternoon that he was “outraged” by the staffer’s detention. “This is an assault on our democracy, on our city, and our values. I am calling for his immediate release and will continue to monitor the situation,” the mayor posted on X. At a press conference earlier Monday, NYC Council Speaker Julie Menin called the staffer a “central” employee. She says ICE picked him up earlier in the day during an appointment in Bethpage and brought him to a federal detention facility on Varick Street in Manhattan. He used his one phone call to contact the City Council’s human resources department, Menin said. The man has worked with the Council for about a year and had legal authorization to do so through October, she added. Officials within the Department of Homeland Security, the speaker said, confirmed the staffer was taken during the court appointment but “provided no other basis for his detainment.” Menin insisted there was no indication for the detention other than his immigration status. DHS did not respond to WNBC’s request for comment. A spokesperson told ABC News the detention was justified, and that the employee had not been authorized to work in the United States. “Despite every indication that he was doing everything the right way, he still found himself a victim of egregious government overreach,” Menin said at the press briefing. “These escalations raise serious concerns about overreach, about the use of excessive force and about the lack of accountability.” Advocates decry the staffer’s detention as a targeted disruption of city government and a violation of due process. City Council staff, labor leaders and community allies planned to rally outside the ICE field office on Varick Street around noon to demand his release. New York Attorney General Letitia James was among those to call for the same, saying in a post on X that he “must be released immediately.” “We will not stand for attacks on our city, its public servants, and its residents,” she wrote. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul weighed in as well. This story uses functionality that may not work in our app. Click here to open the story in your web browser. ...read more read less