DADDY’S HOME
Pizza guy back with his family after ICE nightmare
An undocumented pizza deliveryman arrested while doing his job got treated to an extra-large slice of justice when he was finally released Tuesday from immigration detention.
Pablo Villavicencio, 35, jumped back into the awaiting arms of his wife and two daughters after a federal judge ordered him released from the Hudson County Correctional Facility following a 53-day stint behind bars on an order of deportation.
“I’m very happy to be free,” he told Telemundo in Spanish after his release. “I’m happy to be reunited with my wife and children.”
Manhattan Federal Judge Paul Crotty ruled that the hardworking Ecuadoran immigrant has the right to be free and pursue legal status regardless of the previous order that he leave the country.
“He has no criminal history. He has paid his taxes. And he has worked diligently to provide for his family,” Judge Paul Crotty wrote in a four-page decision.
The married father of two little girls was caught by immigration enforcement agents in June while delivering a pizza to the Fort Hamilton Army Base in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. Federal authorities said Villavicencio’s name was run as part of a routine background check for people entering the base, revealing he was undocumented.
“The court further orders (the government) to immediately release (Villavicencio) from custody because removal is no longer reasonably foreseeable,” Crotty wrote.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which detained Villavicencio in connection with a 2010 order of deportation, declined to comment.
Crotty gave a not-so-subtle hint of his decision during a hearing earlier in the day.
“The powerful are doing what they must. The poor are suffering the most,” Crotty said, addressing Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Cordaro. “Is there any concept of justice? Or are we just doing what we want?”
Sandra Chica, Villavicencio’s wife and a U.S. citizen, teared up and put her head in her hands at the judge’s remarks. Their two girls, ages 2 and 4, played with stuffed animals through much of the hearing.
There’s no guarantee Villavicencio’s citizenship application will be successful, but Crotty, who ran the City Law Department under Mayor Rudy Giu- liani, wrote that the deliveryman has the right to pursue it out of detention.
“What’s the harm to the country and immigration policy if he’s allowed to finish the process that is clearly available to him?” Crotty, a 2005 President Bush appointee, said.
Cordaro mainly argued that the Department of Homeland Security had the right to enforce immigration policy and that the court’s role in the process was limited.
“The rule of law, humanity and morality prevailed tonight with the court’s order releasing Pablo back to his family and community,” said Legal Aid attorney Adriene Holder. “This decision should serve as a rebuke against the Trump administration and its merciless crusade to tear families apart.”
Outside of the courthouse before the hearing, around 50 protesters gathered in support of the pizza deliveryman.
“He was doing his job,” said Yatziri Tovar, an advocate with Make the Road New York.
“Pablo should he free. He should be with his daughters.”
As people rallied for Villavicencio, Gov. Cuomo issued a morning statement calling on Immigration and Customs Enforcement to release him.
In a tweet after Villavicencio was ordered released, Mayor de Blasio wrote, “I cannot imagine what Pablo went through the last few weeks. He was separated from his family and his loved ones for delivering a pizza in America in 2018. Glad he’s headed home, but it’s unconscionable that he was ever detained.”
Chica, was waiting outside the Hudson County jail with her two daughters as he emerged after nearly two months behind bars.
Villavicencio held his wife’s face in both hands and kissed her deeply, then crouched down and hugged his girls.
He told the Spanish language news station that conditions were very difficult behind bars. He thanked Gov. Cuomo, Mayor de Blasio and the immigration activist who pushed for his released.
“We are extremely happy – there are no words that can describe what we’re feeling now,” an elated Chica told the Daily News.
She said she had faith in the system.
“We always thought that this was gonna happen . ... We understood it would just take time.”
Their daughters had brought their Father’s Day gift, which they had not been able to give their dad because of his detention.
“They are extremely happy – they brought a Father’s Day gift,” a relieved Chica said. “It’s perfume, because Pablo loves perfume.”
The exhausted family has no plans for the next few days except to be together.
“I don’t have an idea,” she said. “It’s gonna be raining — so yes, after two months of a huge nightmare, I think we’re just gonna stay home.”