Ravi Ragbir Told He'll Be Deported Within 2 Weeks, Lawyer Says

NEW YORK CITY HALL — Activists and city officials rallied Wednesday to keep immigrant-rights leader Ravi Ragbir at home in New York City as his possible deportation looms, even after a major victory in his case this week.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement authorities jailed Ragbir for 18 days before a federal judge ordered him released Monday. But he could soon be put through the ringer again. ICE has ordered him to report for deportation to Trinidad and Tobago on Feb. 10, even though there's a court-ordered stay on his removal, his lawyer said Wednesday.

City Councilmen Ydanis Rodriguez and Jumaane Williams proposed a Council resolution Wednesday demanding that federal immigration officials halt their efforts to deport Ragbir.

"We are not going to allow them to shove us in the shadows. We are going to stand in front," Ragbir said at a news conference Wednesady outside City Hall, flanked by more than 50 activists and officials.

Ragbir came to the U.S. in 1991. He is the executive director of the New Sanctuary Coalition of New York City, which aims to protect immigrants from deportation and arrest.

The Brooklyn activist went through a whirlwind after his release from jail Monday evening. ICE agents drove him 66 miles in shackles from the upstate Orange County Correctional Facility, where he was being held, to the Jacob K. Javits Federal Building in Manhattan, where he was processed and finally freed.

On Tuesday, he and his wife, Amy Gottlieb, went to the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. for President Donald Trump's State of the Union speech. Gottlieb said the address, which included several proposals to continue Trump's immigration crackdown, was "one of the most horrifying speeches I have ever had to sit through."

"I was in the belly of the beast for 18 days," Ragbir said. "I ended up in the other belly of the beast at the State of the Union on Tuesday night."

Ragbir is now back at work in New York. He's planning to lead a silent vigil Thursday morning outside the Lower Manhattan federal building — three weeks to the day after his arrest there.

But things could change in just 10 days. Ragbir is scheduled to report to Federal Plaza Feb. 10 to be deported under a judicial order dating back to 2006. The order followed his 2001 federal conviction for wire fraud.

Ragbir's lawyers are working to get that conviction overturned in a New Jersey federal court. A judge there has put an indefinite stay on his deportation, said Alina Das, Ragbir's lawyer. But there's a hearing Feb. 9 at which the stay could be lifted. ICE has scheduled Ragbir's deportation for the next day.

"It's highly unusual that they're having it on a Saturday and that they've given such a short period of time, especially when there's a stay that is in place right now," Das said.

An ICE spokeswoman did not immediately respond to emailed questions about the scheduling of Ragbir's deportation. But the agency has said Ragbir has exhausted his legal options and has no basis to stay in the U.S.

Ragbir's Jan. 11 arrest sparked chaotic protests at which 18 people were arrested, including Rodriguez and Williams. They've expressed concerns about the NYPD's aggressive treatment of protesters that day and their cooperation with federal authorities. One cop wrapped his arms around Rodriguez's head, and Williams was handcuffed while bent over the hood of a car.

Council members described Ragbir as the human face of the hundreds of thousands of immigrants deported not just under Trump, but also his Democratic predecessors, Barack Obama and Bill Clinton. Several called for the strengthening of New York City's so-called sanctuary policies that limit cooperation with ICE.

"I hope and pray that every single immoral deportation causes as much disruption to the status quo as what happened on Jan. 11," Williams said.

But Ragbir said he doesn't want to be a "symbol." He asked activists to gather outside his deportation appointment in two weeks to send ICE a message.

"The first time in a long, long time, I know what it means to have people with me," Ragbir said.

(Lead image: Immigrant-rights leader Ravi Ragbir, right, speaks at a news conference outside City Hall Wednesday with Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez. Photo by Noah Manskar)