Immigrant Pizza Man's Family Begs Judge For His Freedom

NEW YORK CITY HALL — As a deadline looms for the federal government to reunite immigrant families separated at the southern border, Pablo Villavicencio awaits his own fate in a New Jersey jail. The pizza deliveryman arrested by immigration authorities on a run to a Brooklyn Army base nearly two months ago has missed a wedding anniversary and his older daughter's birthday while locked up.

Ahead of a Tuesday morning hearing, Villavicencio's family and supporters gathered Monday to plead the judge overseeing his case in Manhattan federal court to free him so he can finally reunite with his loved ones.

"Words cannot describe how heavy this has been for everybody, especially for us," Sandra Chica, Villavicencio's wife, said at a news conference in City Hall. "Each and every day has been really painful without him."

Villavicencio was delivering pizza to the Fort Hamilton Army Base on June 1 when a guard ran a background check on him, which revealed Immigration and Customs Enforcement had a warrant out for his arrest.

A federal judge halted Villavicencio's deportation about a week later. But ICE has kept him locked up even though there's no legal basis to detain him, said his lawyer, Jennifer Williams.

"This nightmare should not have lasted 52 days and it shouldn’t last one more day," said Williams, the deputy attorney-in-charge of the Legal Aid Society's Immigration Law Unit.

ICE has said Villavicencio, a citizen of Ecuador, entered the U.S. illegally and was a "fugitive" because he didn't obey a judge's 2010 order to leave voluntarily.

But Williams said he's now trying to follow the government's own process to be come a legal permanent resident of the U.S.

"The government is trying to derail this process," Williams said. "This is wrong, unfair and unjust."

Chica said she has gotten to visit her husband in jail for just half an hour each Saturday. He's staying positive, she said, but he's afraid of being taken away from his two young daughters, Luciana and Antonia.

"It’s not easy to become a single mom in one day," Chica said. "It’s hard ... with two little girls, being by myself with all the responsibilities that I have now."

Chica got visibly emotional when 4-year-old Luciana addressed a gathered crowd of reporters in Spanish, saying how much she wants her dad back.

"I miss him being at home every day. I miss playing with him every day," Luciana said, according to a translation by the immigrant-rights group Make the Road New York.

"When we go see him, he cries. I hope he comes home tomorrow."

Williams said Tuesday's hearing before U.S. District Judge Paul A. Crotty could have several outcomes, including Villavicencio's immediate release or moving his case to New Jersey because he's being held there. But his backers are hoping for the best.

"It runs completely counter to this nation’s ideals to continue to keep this family apart," City Council Speaker Corey Johnson said.

An ICE spokeswoman did not respond to a request for comment Monday afternoon.

(Lead image: Sandra Chica, Pablo Villavicencio's wife, speaks at a Monday news conference calling for his release. Photo by John McCarten/New York City Council)