The romantic partner of a senior city corrections official was detained by immigration agents last month in the Bronx amid what is perhaps a watershed moment in the Big Apple’s conflict over President Trump’s immigration crackdown, the Daily News has learned.
Nathaniel Rojas, a native of the Dominican Republic who’s allegedly undocumented, was hauled away by ICE agents Aug. 28 in Riverdale from the apartment he shares with Wendy Garcia, who has been the city Department of Correction’s deputy commissioner for development and advancement since February, according to records and law enforcement sources.
Rojas was taken to 26 Federal Plaza and whisked up to an Orange County jail where he has remained over the past two weeks, records show. Garcia was present during Rojas’ arrest, the sources said.
The day he was detained, Rojas’ lawyer Reuben Kerben filed a habeas corpus lawsuit in federal court against ICE as well as Trump’s Attorney General Pam Bondi and Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, court records show. The file is sealed and pending.
On Sept. 2, Manhattan Federal Court Judge Lewis Liman ordered Rojas not to be removed from the jurisdiction until the petition is adjudicated, records show.
Kerben declined to comment on any aspect of the case. Garcia, who was appointed to a senior role in the NYPD in 2022 before being moved over to the DOC this year, did not respond to inquiries from The News.
Spokespeople for Adams and the DOC also declined to discuss the Rojas case.
The fact that the partner of a high-ranking city official has been swept up in Trump’s “mass deportation” campaign poses a potentially uncomfortable situation for the Adams administration.
The mayor’s political career was, at least temporarily, saved when the Trump Justice Department dropped his federal corruption case as part of a controversial arrangement this spring in which the administration said they needed Adams’ help in pursuing deportations.
Rojas’ detention also comes as sources say Adams is considering dropping out of November’s mayoral election in exchange for a job in the Trump administration, though the mayor continues to say he is staying in the race.
Brooklyn Councilwoman Alexa Aviles, who chairs the Council’s Immigration Committee, said she wasn’t surprised the Trump administration is coming after even the partners of top city government officials, arguing it’s par for the course because “they’re doing what they said they’re going to do.”
Aviles, a democratic socialist, lampooned Adams’ administration for not speaking out against Rojas’ detention.
“The non-responsiveness, the non-action is very much Eric Adams and his administration, which has been a source of constant frustration,” she said.
Circumstances unclear
In a brief interview, Rojas’ daughter told The News through a friend she was devastated over her dad’s detention. The woman, whom the News is not identifying, said he had been working toward clearing up an immigration issue for at least two years, but the federal government suddenly changed its tenor and came after him.
Court records show he has been a financial manager at the Hillside Auto Mall used car dealership as recently as 2024. His daughter said through the friend he has lived in the U.S. since he was 19 and had several children.
“They took him when on his way to work,” his daughter said. “He’s been such a big contributor to society. The lawyer in court (meaning the feds) was saying he’s a threat to society, and that’s so wrong.”
Her friend told The News that Rojas took her in when she had a traumatic experience at age 15. “Her family was so sweet to me, and took me in and gave me a safe space,” the friend said. “He has been the father figure I didn’t have.”
It was not clear if Rojas has a prior criminal record, which could constitute a reason for the detention, though Trump’s immigration crackdown has swept up many immigrants who aren’t facing criminal accusations.
Officials with ICE and Homeland Security did not reply to repeated inquiries about the underlying reasons for Rojas’ detention.
A civil suit filed against Rojas by Eddy Rojas Fermin, who says he’s Rojas’ brother, references a criminal complaint filed with the NYPD on May 6, 2024 by the brother, accusing Rojas of larceny and fraud. No arrests have been made and the NYPD did not reply to inquiries from The News about the status of the complaint or about any prior criminal history.
It is unclear if the detention was in any way related to the complaint.
In the criminal complaint, a copy of which is included in the civil cuit case file, the brother told 44th Precinct police Rojas racked up $37,121 in unpaid tolls on a vehicle in Rojas Fermin’s name causing his license to be suspended, the records show.
Rojas Fermin filed a related civil lawsuit filed against his brother and also named Garcia as a defendant. Rojas Fermin wrote in court papers he “considered him my brother.”
In the lawsuit, filed Aug. 7, 2024, Rojas Fermin alleged in 2022 that his brother, while working at the auto dealership, requested his personal documents. Garcia and Rojas then purchased a 2019 Mercedes Benz for $36,000 from the Hillside dealership, but someone allegedly placed Rojas Fermin’s name on the certificate of sale without his knowledge, the lawsuit alleges.
“The signature … was a forged signature perpetrated by the plaintiff’s brother, Nathanael Rojas Acevedo,” the lawsuit alleges.
Garcia and Rojas denied the allegations in responses filed in October. Their lawyers did not reply to inquiries from The News. On July 15, a judge dismissed the car dealership from the lawsuit; the case is otherwise pending.
Rojas Fermin’s lawyer Samuel Viruet did not return calls from The News.
Before moving over to DOC, Garcia served in a similar deputy commissioner role at the NYPD in which she held HR responsibilities, having been appointed to that post shortly after Adams took office in January 2022.
