appointment

Jan. 12 (UPI) — A Venezuelan employee of the New York City Council has been detained by federal immigration officials, Council Speaker Julie Menin said Monday night, amid growing anger over the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.

The unidentified data analyst was detained while attending a routine court appearance in Bethpage, Long Island, making him the first city council employee to be detained by the Trump administration, she said.

“This man chose to work for the council on behalf of the public, on behalf of New Yorkers, and despite every indication that he was doing everything the right way, he still found himself a victim of egregious government overreach,” she said during a Monday night press conference.

The employee, who is legally able to work in the United States until October, used his single phone call to contact the City Council Human Resources department seeking help, Menin said, demanding his release.

Menin added that the employee has been moved to a detention center that she cannot get in touch with.

“I’m an elected official running a body and I cannot contact a federal facility? What kind of accountability or transparency is that?” she said.

“That is not how our government works and that is not how our legal system is meant to work.”

Menin said she has spoken with the Department of Homeland Security to express her “extreme frustration” and demand information about why the employee was detained. The DHS confirmed to her that the employee was detained during the routine court appearance but provided no basis for his detention, she said.

U.S. Rep. Dan Goldman, D-N.Y., reiterated that there is no indication that there is anything about the employee that warranted his arrest other than that he is an immigrant from Venezuela.

Venezuela and migrants from the South American nation have been a focus of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. Earlier this month, the United States abducted Venezuela’s authoritarian president, Nicolas Maduro, in a military operation. He has been indicted in the United States on narcoterrorism and other drug-related charges.

Goldman told reporters that following the detention of Maduro, the DHS is reconsidering whether or not they can even deport Venezuelans back to their native country.

“Instead of finding ‘the worst of the worst,’ instead of finding people who should be deported if they’ve committed felonies, ICE is going after New York City public employees,” he said.

The DHS often states that it is targeting “the worst of the worst” with its immigration law enforcement operations.

In refuting this DHS assertion, Goldman said that instead, federal agents are targeting their neighbors, community members and New York City public employees.

“They are going after the easiest prey they can find,” he said.

In a statement, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said he was “outraged” by the employee’s detention.

“This is an assault on our democracy, on our city and our values,” he said.

“I am calling for his immediate release and will continue to monitor the situation.”

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COPENHAGEN — The leaders of Denmark and Greenland insisted Monday that the United States won’t take over Greenland and demanded respect for their territorial integrity after President Trump ‍announced the appointment of a ‌special envoy to the semiautonomous territory.

Trump’s announcement on Sunday that Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry would be the envoy prompted a new flare-up of tensions over Washington’s interest in the vast territory of Denmark, a NATO ally. Denmark’s foreign minister told Danish broadcasters that he would summon the U.S. ambassador to his ministry.

”We have said it before. Now, we say it again. National borders and the sovereignty of states are rooted in international law,” Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and her Greenlandic counterpart, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, said in a joint statement. “They are fundamental principles. You cannot annex another country. Not even with an argument about international security.”

“Greenland belongs to the Greenlanders and the U.S. shall not take over Greenland,” they added in the statement emailed by Frederiksen’s office. “We expect respect for our joint territorial integrity.”

Trump called repeatedly during his presidential transition and the early months of his second term for U.S. jurisdiction over Greenland, and has not ruled out military force to take control of the mineral-rich, strategically located Arctic island. In March, Vice President JD Vance visited a remote U.S. military base in Greenland and accused Denmark of under-investing there.

The issue gradually drifted out of the headlines, but in August, Danish officials summoned the top U.S. diplomat in Copenhagen following a report that at least three people with connections to Trump had carried out covert influence operations in Greenland.

On Sunday, Trump announced Landry’s appointment, saying on social media that “Jeff understands how essential Greenland is to our National Security, and will strongly advance our Country’s Interests for the Safety, Security, and Survival of our Allies, and indeed, the World.”

Landry wrote in a post on social media that “it’s an honor to serve you in this volunteer position to make Greenland a part of the U.S.”

Danish broadcasters TV2 and DR reported that in comments from the Faroe Islands on Monday, Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen said he summoned the U.S. ambassador in Copenhagen, Kenneth Howery, to his ministry.

Greenland’s prime minister wrote in a separate statement that Greenland had again woken up to a new announcement from the U.S. president, and that “it may sound significant. But it changes nothing for us here at home.”

Nielsen noted that Greenland has its own democracy and said that “we are happy to cooperate with other countries, including the United States, but this must always take place with respect for us and for our values and wishes.”

Earlier this month, the Danish Defense Intelligence Service said in an annual report that the U.S. is using its economic power to “assert its will” and threaten military force against friend and foe alike.

Denmark is a member of the European Union as well as NATO.

Anouar El Anouni, a spokesperson for the EU’s executive Commission, told reporters in Brussels on Monday that it wasn’t for him to comment on U.S. decisions. But he underlined the bloc’s position that “preserving the territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Denmark, its sovereignty and the inviolability of its borders is essential for the European Union.”

Moulson writes for the Associated Press.