Deport close call
Judge had minutes to halt pizza man’s exit order
THE PIZZA deliveryman nabbed by immigration agents at a Brooklyn Army base was moments away from exile when a judge blocked his ouster.
“The agents had actually come to pick me up, but I told them that a judge had issued an order stopping my deportation,” Pablo Villavicencio, 35, told the Daily News Monday in a phone interview from the federal detention center in Kearny, N.J.
“The order came at the right time,” he added.
On Saturday afternoon, Manhattan Federal Court Judge Alison Nathan put Villavicencio’s looming expulsion on hold.
Villavicencio’s case has drawn nationwide attention.
The pizza deliveryman said he will be able to remain in the country at least until July 20, when he’s scheduled to face Federal Judge Paul Crotty.
“I’m happy that I will be able to have that right, like any other person in this country, to have a hearing and be able to see a judge,” he said, sounding upbeat.
“I really appreciate everyone who has supported me to stay in this country and help me to be able to see my daughters again, and be near my wife.”
Villavicencio hopes to visit with his two young daughters soon.
“That’s what my daughters ask me every day: When would I get to see them again? When am I going to return? I tell them very soon,” he said.
Villavicencio, an Ecuadorian native, was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents as he tried to deliver a pizza to the Fort Hamilton garrison.
A military officer discovered a 2010 deportation order against him during a background check — and turned him over to ICE.
On Monday, his wife, Sandra Chica, an American citizen, left her Hempstead, L.I., home to meet with lawyers and elected officials.
She brought along the couple’s two daughters, Luciana, who will turn 4 on June 20, and Antonia, 2.
“This really has been hard on them, but today they are happy. So are we,” she said, mustering a smile.
“This is good news, for now; we have to keep fighting,” said Chica, who had applied for a green card for her husband prior to his detention. “My daughters are very happy right now. They just want to see their dad.”