Judge Questions Immigrant Pizza Man's Continued Jailing

LOWER MANHATTAN, NY — A Manhattan federal judge on Tuesday questioned the need to keep an immigrant pizza deliveryman locked up nearly two months after his arrest at a Brooklyn Army base. U.S. District Judge Paul A. Crotty did not immediately decide whether Pablo Villavicencio should be freed, leaving it uncertain when he will be reunited with his wife and two daughters.

But the judge expressed skepticism that it was necessary for Immigration and Customs Enforcement to detain or deport Villavicencio while he pursues legal permanent residency in the United States.

"The powerful are doing what they want and the poor are suffering what they must," Crotty said from the bench during arguments by Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Cordaro. "Is there any concept of justice here, or are we just doing it because we want to?"

ICE arrested Villavicencio on June 1 at Fort Hamilton Army Base, where he was trying to deliver pizza, and planned to deport him to Ecuador. A federal judge blocked his deportation about a week later, but he's remained locked in Hudson County Correctional Facility in New Jersey.

The case sparked outrage among local officials and immigrant-rights advocates, who argued a man just trying to earn a living for his family had been caught up in the Trump administration's deportation dragnet. While in jail he's missed a wedding anniversary, Father's Day with his daughters and one of their birthdays.

Arguing on the federal government’s behalf, Cordaro said a New Jersey federal court should decide the case because Villavicencio is jailed there. But Villavicencio’s lawyers argued the case belongs in New York because ICE’s Manhattan office ordered his detention.

ICE has said Villavicencio, a citizen of Ecuador, was a "fugitive" subject to a final order of removal because he failed to voluntarily leave the country under a 2010 court order.

But Villavicencio is now trying to follow a path to legal status the government established in 2016 for people in his situation, his lawyers said in court. He filed an initial application in February for permanent residency through his wife, Sandra Chica, who is a U.S. citizen.

Villavicencio's lawyers argued he should be allowed to stay in the country and finish the process he started, regardless of whether it's successful. Cordaro countered that he could still follow a similar process to get legal status if he was deported.

But Crotty asked why Villavicencio needed to stay locked up even though he hasn't committed a crime and isn't a danger to the community. He suggested the immigration process could be easier for Villavicencio if he's allowed to stay in the U.S. and not be separated from his family.

"What's the harm to the country ... in allowing him to finish a process that's available to him?" the judge asked Cordaro.

Crotty did not immediately decide after the roughly hour-long hearing on where the case should be heard or whether Villavicencio should be released. But he said he's inclined to keep the case entire together, whether it moves forward in New York or New Jersey.

Chica and the couple's daughters watched the arguments from the front row of the courtroom gallery, but Villavicencio was not there. Chica had a blank expression on her face after the hearing; her girls, apparently bored by the proceedings, had been taken elsewhere.

Gregory Copeland, one of Villavicencio's Legal Aid Society lawyers, said the process has been "very difficult" for the Long Island family but expressed hope that they'll be back together soon.

"I think that the judge posed some pretty difficult questions that the government was unable to answer," Copeland said.

(Lead image: Legal Aid lawyer Gregory Copeland speaks after a Tuesday court hearing in the case of Pablo Villavicencio, the immigrant pizza deliveryman arrested at a Brooklyn Army base in June. Photo by Noah Manskar/Patch)