After Nathaniel Rojas, the romantic partner of a top-ranking Adams administration official, was detained by ICE last month, President Trump’s administration said it was taking the drastic step of trying to revoke his green card and deport him to his native Dominican Republic because of a criminal record.
Trump officials, whose aggressive immigration crackdown has targeted both documented and undocumented individuals, provided few details about Rojas’ criminal or personal history.
But court records obtained by the Daily News show Rojas has three felony convictions, including on charges alleging that, while working at a Manhattan Jeep dealership in 2017, he stole a customer’s identity to illegally lease a vehicle for himself, swept another customer’s credit card from her purse and drove drunk with a child in the vehicle.
Despite those criminal convictions, The News has also learned Rojas landed a job earlier this year at a city government-run hospital whose CEO has been pictured attending birthday parties and otherwise socializing with Rojas’ partner, Wendy Garcia, a city Department of Correction deputy commissioner.
Rojas’ detention is a potentially thorny situation for Mayor Adams. The Trump administration quashed Adams’ corruption indictment this spring with the understanding that the dismissal would enable the mayor — who abandoned his reelection bid on Sunday — to assist more in the president’s immigration crackdown.
To boot, the revelation that an employee of a city-run hospital has landed in the crosshairs of Trump’s crackdown comes as sources say the mayor’s team has been in talks about Adams potentially joining Trump’s administration once his term is over. Adams didn’t say Sunday what his next professional move will be once his term ends Jan. 1.
The new records obtained by The News show Rojas was sentenced to a 45-day sentence on Rikers Island on one of the charges he was convicted on in 2017. Last year — at the peak of the presidential campaign during which Trump was threatening his “mass deportation” effort — Rojas found himself in trouble again, with his brother leveling similar accusations against both him and Garcia relating to alleged identity fraud.
In a Bronx Supreme Court lawsuit filed in August 2024 against Rojas and Garcia, the brother, Eddy Fermin Rojas, alleged they forged his signature on the purchase of a Mercedes-Benz and racked up tens of thousands in tolls billed to him. The brother also reported the incident to the NYPD, though no charges have been filed in that case.
Despite the criminal convictions and the 2024 lawsuit, Rojas got a managerial job in March 2025 at the Bronx’s city government-funded Lincoln Hospital in a role that provided him access to patient information, according to two sources directly familiar with the matter. It’s not clear if Rojas was still working at the dealership when he got the hospital job.
State law holds employers can deny a person employment if their criminal history is relevant to the duties of the job for which they’re applying.
The two Lincoln sources familiar with his employment said Rojas, in his job as the hospital’s director of patient relations, has had access to personal information for patients and staff, including home addresses, despite his criminal record. The sources said Rojas’ records access has raised concerns among hospital employees since his detention.
Under the state’s Fair Chance Act, New Yorkers can’t be denied work solely because of a criminal record. However, a person’s application can be denied under that law if there’s a “direct relationship” between past crimes and the prospective job, per the city Human Rights Commission.
The ties between Garcia and Lincoln Hospital’s CEO, Cristina Contreras, predate Rojas’ hire.
The News has reviewed photos that show Garcia and Contreras socializing in a number of settings, including at Garcia’s birthday party in September 2023. Another picture shows Contreras giving Garcia an award at a Hispanic heritage month event at Lincoln Hospital in October 2024.
Rojas was detained Aug. 28 at the Riverdale home he shares with Garcia, who was there when ICE agents arrived, and he remains in custody as of this week, records show. Adams’ office didn’t initially disclose Rojas was an employee at a city-run hospital when The News first inquired about him upon his ICE detention.
Health + Hospitals spokesman Christopher Miller only confirmed Rojas’ employment later on. When asked if Contreras had anything to do with Rojas’ hire, Miller said, “I don’t have any additional insight here.”
Miller did say Rojas applied for the Lincoln job via “regular channels” and was “subject to standard background checks including fingerprinting. He declined to discuss the results of Rojas’ background check.
Miller noted criminal convictions don’t “necessarily disqualify” applicants from “consideration or eventual hire.” He wouldn’t say how much Rojas is being paid or otherwise answer detailed questions about his job, but Lincoln sources said his position was advertised with a salary between $80,000 and $120,000, a range that corresponds with his predecessor’s wage, payroll records show.
Garcia and Rojas’ attorney, Rueben Kerben, haven’t returned requests for comment this month. Contreras didn’t return a request for comment, either.
Since his detention, Rojas has remained held at an Orange County jail, records show. Kerben has filed a habeas petition in Manhattan Federal Court that remains pending. A Manhattan Federal Court judge has ordered Rojas not to be removed from the jurisdiction until the petition is adjudicated, records show.
Adams spokeswoman Kayla Mamelak said earlier this month that administration officials have been in contact with Rojas’ loved ones amid his detention. Mamelak and other Adams reps have otherwise declined to answer questions about Rojas and Garcia, saying they were “not weighing in here based on legal advice and feedback from immigration advocates.”
As mayor, Adams holds large sway over the Health + Hospitals system, including by nominating its CEO and board of directors.
Garcia, who is the DOC’s deputy commissioner of development and advancement, has known political connections. She was an intern for Manhattan Congressman Adriano Espaillat and previously married to the brother of Transportation Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez — both key supporters of Adams. Garcia was also an NYPD deputy commissioner, beginning in 2022, before moving to Correction in February amid fallout from the scandal involving ex-Chief of Department Jeffrey Maddrey.
Rojas’ criminal convictions all involved felony arrests followed by guilty pleas, records obtained by The News show.
On Sept. 4, 2017, Rojas was arrested for grand larceny after a customer at Manhattan Jeep on 11th Ave. near W. 48th St. in Manhattan complained Rojas, then a salesperson at the dealership, used her credit card after swiping it from her purse, records show.. Rojas pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 45 days on Rikers Island, the records show.
The Correction Department didn’t respond when asked how many days Rojas actually served in jail.
On Aug. 31, 2017, also while working at the dealership, Rojas was arrested on a charge of grand larceny, identity theft and forgery for using a customer’s personal information to illegally lease a car. The customer told cops she bought a Fiat from the dealership in August 2017 and gave Rojas her personal information, including her social security number, the records show.
Rojas then used the customer’s name to lease a black Jeep and forged her signature to the lease, the records show. An NYPD officer verified the customer’s signature on the lease differed from her signature on her driver’s license, according to the records.
Rojas pleaded guilty and was sentenced to a conditional discharge and community service, the records show.
Rojas was also arrested May 7, 2017 after being pulled over in the East Village, records show. He was charged with aggravated driving while intoxicated with a child passenger after an arresting officer alleged Rojas had alcohol on his breath, slurred speech and was unsteady on his feet.
He pleaded guilty in that case, too, and was sentenced to community service, revocation of his license, fines, probation and the requirement an ignition interlock device be placed on his car, records show.
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