Stay for Qns. dad

Win after dog drama led to deport threat

A Queens cab driver who faced deportation after trying to protect his family’s dog has gotten a reprieve from a federal judge, immigration advocates said Friday.

Edisson Barros, an undocumented immigrant who has lived in New York for more than two decades, was detained last month by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents after a court appearance over an incident involving his dog.

Gregory Copeland, a lawyer for the Legal Aid Society, which has argued against efforts to send the father of two back to Ecuador, said Barros, 46, received a stay of deportation Thursday night.

“I think they were incredibly relieved,” Copeland said of Barros’ family. “There were tears of joy. I think they would have loved for him to be released and brought back. These were people that were visibly traumatized throughout the day when they were in our offices and we were working on this case."

Barros was issued a desk appearance ticket May 5 by a police officer after a dispute with a motorist who almost hit his dog.

Barros was walking the dog when the pooch ran into the street as a car was approaching. To alert the motorist, Barros tossed his keys at the car and upset the driver. Police got involved, and issued Barros a desk appearance ticket, "the most minor sort of thing that could have happened,” Copeland said.

Barros successfully contested the charges two months later in court, but paid a much higher price. When Barros left court, he was detained by ICE agents, who jailed him in a Hudson County, N.J., facility before he was transferred to a detention center in Louisiana, where he remains locked away.

Copeland said federal officials told him that Barros’ move to Louisiana was a “staging issue” to prepare him for deportation. Copeland said he was arguing to have Barros returned to the New York area.

“Mr. Barros’ case is yet another troubling example of this federal administration’s cruel war to separate families, whether at the southern border or here in this sanctuary city,” Copleland said. “The ultimate goal is to reunite Edisson with his family.”

Both of Barros’ daughters were born in the U.S.

BARRROS FAMILY Image of Edisson Barros (right) on GoFundMe page July 21. His daughter wrote: "My father was handed over to ICE. He was born in Cuenca, Ecuador, but he continues to love the US as his home."