A judge deciding the fate of a pizza delivery guy who was detained by ICE last month suggested Tuesday that the food courier should be spared from deportation while he fights for legal residency in the US.
“What’s the harm to the country and to immigration policy by allowing him to finish the process?” Manhattan federal Judge Paul Crotty asked federal prosecutor, who want to deport Pablo Villavicencio to his native Ecuador.
“The powerful are doing what they want and the poor are suffering what they must … Why do you want to enforce this order? It makes no difference in terms of the larger issues facing the country.”
Villavicencio made headlines across the country when he was detained by immigration agents while making a routine catering delivery food to Fort Hamilton Army Base in Brooklyn last month. He has been in detention in New Jersey ever since.
He was ordered to leave the country in 2010, but instead stuck around and married a US citizen five years ago — with whom he now has two young daughters — and applied for a green card in February.
The feds want to make good on that deportation order and send Villavicencio back to Ecuador while his application is ongoing, but Crotty questioned what harm it would be to let a man who has “always worked, paid his taxes and lived a law abiding life” stay.
“He made a mistake,” the judge, playing devil’s advocate, suggested to AUSA Joseph Cordaro about Villavicencio’s failure to leave in 2010.
“Maybe he’s just encountering good counsel for the first time … What is the danger to the community for a man who has committed no crimes?”
Crotty made no rulings Tuesday, however.
Villavicencio didn’t appear in court, but wife Sandra Chica sat there in silence with their two daughters, aged 2 and 4.
“It’s hard because Pablo has been detained for almost two months. I just hope the judge does the right thing and make his decision soon,” Chica told The Post after the hearing.
His advocates were pleased with how things went Tuesday but are still hoping to get the pizza man released on bond.
“The judge definitely understands that he needs to be with his family, that he is not a threat to society, that he is not a flight risk, and he has the support of the greater community,” Cesar Vargas, immigration lawyer and co-director of the Dream Action Coalition said after the hearing.
“The government could not prove that Pablo is a danger to society, that Pablo is a flight risk. We hope Pablo is reunited with his family.”
Before the hearing, dozens of protesters gathered outside Manhattan Federal Court chanting “Free Pablo!” and waving “Abolish ICE” signs.
