A federal judge had a hard question for a lawyer on Tuesday: “Is there any concept of justice or are we just doing what we want here”
U.S. District Judge Paul A. Crotty questioned an attorney as he was ruling on the fate of Pablo Villavicencio. Villavicencio, an Ecuador native, is married to an American citizen and is a father of two. He began the process of obtaining his green card earlier this year.
Villavicencio was delivering pizzas to Fort Hamilton in Brooklyn, N.Y., when a soldier began questioning him and eventually called Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Villavicencio had delivered pizzas to the military base in the past without any issues.
Villavicencio presented his state-issued municipal ID, but a background check found that he had an open order of deportation from 2010. He has been married to his wife, Sandra Chica, since 2013.
Crotty demanded Calderon’s release and said the man can stay in the country while he works toward permanent residency.
“There are no words that can define the drama that my daughters and I are living. From one moment to another, life changed for us and all I ask now is: Do not go to deport my husband, give him a chance,” Chica told El Diario at the time of her husband’s arrest.
Chica had been concerned about making ends meet for her daughters, who are three and four years old.
“Pablo is a [hard-working] man. He is the economic support of the home, I work part-time and we take turns taking care of the girls because we do not have relatives here. I can not imagine what would become of us if they deported Pablo,” she told the outlet.
During proceedings, Crotty questioned why Villavicencio had been held for so long in the first place.
“Is he a threat to the country A flight risk Don’t they have to justify it” he asked Joseph Cordaro, the government’s attorney, according to WRAL.
“The powerful are doing what they want,” he reportedly said, “and the poor are suffering what they must.”
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio supported the judge’s decision. He wrote on Twitter:
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. https://t.co/H6pAk1Vtwy
— Bill de Blasio (@NYCMayor) July 24, 2018
