'Now I am no longer crying'
ICE-bust pizza guy’s family reunion
He’s savoring the taste of freedom.
The pizza deliveryman imprisoned for 53 days in an ICE detention center spent his first full day of freedom lavishing love on his wife and young daughters, catching up on some muchneeded sleep and chowing down on his favorite foods.
“I am very happy to be here again at my house with my wife and kids,” Pablo Villavicencio said Wednesday, standing outside his home in Hempstead, LI. “The first [thing I did] was get a kiss from my wife and my daughters.”
When he came home, Villavicencio’s 4-yearold, Luciana, literally fell to her knees and thanked heaven her daddy was back.
“The first thing she did, she got down on her knees by the entrance of the door and said, ‘Thank God that Daddy is now home,’ ” he said.
“I am so happy my dad is home,” the youngster told reporters in Spanish on Wednesday.
“He was at his work, and now I am no longer crying. I am so happy with him.”
Luciana still doesn’t know her daddy had been locked up.
Villavicencio convinced the girl during her visits that he was working at the Hudson County Correctional Facility in Kearny, NJ — not an inmate there.
On Tuesday, US District Judge Paul Crotty ordered a stay of removal for Villavicencio. The Ecuadorian native can live in the United States as he reapplies for readmission as a spouse of an American citizen and files waivers to stay.
He will face deportation only if his petitions are denied.
In spring him, Crotty called him “a model citizen.”
Federal immigration officials detained Villavicencio when he delivered food to Brooklyn’s Fort Hamilton Army base and someone working the gate there reported him for an outstanding order of removal from 2010.
The first few days of his imprisonment were the toughest, according to Villavicencio, who said he had never before been locked up.
“It was very hard, because four days of being in a cell with four walls and not seeing the sun for days was very hard,” he said.
“Not communicating with my wife the first 72 hours was very hard.”
The family is planning to take it easy for now.
“We are going to spend time at home with the kids, and that’s it,” said Villavicencio’s wife, Sandra Chica.
“I’m going to prepare his food, fish — he loves fish.”
Villavicencio is ready to get back to work, but he said he wants to consult his lawyers because he’s not legally permitted to work in the United States.
“If it was up to me, I would start working again today,” he said.
Meanwhile, longtime patrons came by the pizzeria in College Point, Queens, to celebrate Villavicencio’s release.
“When we heard it this morning that he came out, we were so happy,” said Miguel Ortiz, 60.
“I had to be here!”