A popular McDonald’s manager in Oceanside has been arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and is facing deportation after attending a scheduled hearing on his pending political asylum case, according to published reports.
Christian Rodriguez, a 51-year-old from Venezuela, was arrested Thursday, Aug. 21, by ICE after a routine hearing on his immigration case at a Bethpage immigration office, ICE confirmed.
According to his co-workers, Rodriguez believed he was doing everything properly on his immigration case, thought he was completing the next step in his application that Thursday and has a valid Social Security number and work visa, Newsday reported.
Co-workers called his arrest “very bad,” saying he was a hard worker who found success after coming to the United States 10 years ago despite knowing little English, according to reports.
A Baldwin resident, he worked his way up to a manager position at an Oceanside McDonald’s on Atlantic Avenue. There he’s been a familiar face for five years, who’s now missed by colleagues and customers.
On Aug. 21, Rodriguez texted a co-worker saying he had been unexpectedly arrested by ICE after his political asylum hearing and taken to Central Islip, where immigration attorneys said ICE has been taking immigrants to the federal courthouse, it was reported.
Since then, Rodriguez has not communicated with co-workers, though reports say he is being held somewhere in New York. According to co-workers, he does not have any family in the country.
He was issued a “notice to appear” last week, which states that he must appear before an immigration judge on Oct. 27 to demonstrate why he should be allowed to remain in the country, according to published reports.
Rodriguez initially came to the United States in December 2015 on a tourist visa that expired in June 2016. However, he applied for political asylum, stating he would be harmed if he returned to Venezuela, reports said.
Typically, people who apply for political asylum are able to remain in the country while their case is processed. The fact that he was arrested when appearing for this type of hearing is abnormal, according to Nassau County immigration attorney George Terezakis.
“Normally, [ICE] would not be picking people up there,” Terezakis said of the Bethpage office where Rodriguez was arrested.
Terezakis said there have been significant changes in how ICE detentions and proceedings have been conducted in recent months. Previously, he said people were less likely to be detained or arrested for extended periods of time and that bond posting for those arrested has decreased.
“Historically, the default position has generally been that people are entitled to be at liberty, that their freedom means something,” Terezakis said. “Unless there was a showing that the person was a danger to the community or flight risk, the default position was that there would be some kind of reasonable bond or they would be released without bond.”
“But now the default position is we hold everybody, and we hold them as long as we can, and we don’t consent to bond, even though they may have been here a long time or have family to support,” he continued.
Terezakis said he believes ICE is attempting to intimidate people and that the lack of bonds being posted for people who are arrested is notable. Previously, he said immigration attorneys, government attorneys and judges would work together to set bonds for people, a process that is not necessarily occurring anymore.
“The change has been to hold everybody and not to release them on bond or to post any bond requests,” Terezakis said. “It seems very clear that they’re just trying to coerce people into giving up their right to a hearing before a judge. They’re trying to deprive them of their right to a hearing, saying they’re not entitled to it so that they can keep them and press them to just give up their rights.”
Rodriguez’s arrest and potentially looming deportation come during President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown that has rolled back temporary protected status for Venezuelans and threatened it for other groups, including Haitians.
The crackdown has hit Long Island communities hard in recent months, with Port Washington Schmear Bagel and Cafe manager Fernando Mejia detained by ICE agents in June and Sara Lizeth Lopez Garcia, a stellar Suffolk County Community College student, being detained in July.
The Nassau County East Meadow jail has also been holding ICE detainees under an agreement between County Executive Bruce Blakeman and the agency.
Nearly 200,000 people have been deported nationally since Trump took office.
