The Ecuadorian pizza delivery man detained by ICE and finally released late Tuesday was too excited to even sleep when he got home — following 53 days in federal custody.
“I am very happy to be here again at my house with my wife and kids,” said Pablo Villavicencio, who made it back to his Hempstead home around 1 a.m. Wednesday. “We couldn’t sleep for four or five hours, but I am very happy to be home again.”
The 35-year-old undocumented immigrant spent the time catching up with his wife, Sandra Chica, a U.S. citizen, and his young children Luciana, 4, and Antonia, 2.
“Thank you for helping my dad. He is here at home. Now I am no longer crying,” said Luciana.
But his freedom is bittersweet, because other undocumented immigrants remain detained under President Trump’s strict immigration policies, the wife said.
“One feels that happiness that your family is reunited, but you have that sadness that many other families are in similar situation and they don’t have the resources to get help. We lived through this and we don’t wish it on anyone. We understand the pain,” she said.
Villavicencio was sent to Hudson County Correctional Facility in Kearny, NJ, after he made a food delivery to Brooklyn’s Ft. Hamilton Army Base, and someone working the gate reported him for an outstanding order of removal from 2010.
The first few days of his imprisonment were the worst, according to Villavicencio, who said he’d never been detained before.
“It was very hard because four days of being a cell with four walls and not seeing the sun for days was very hard. Not communicating with my wife the first 72 hours was very hard,” he said.
Villavicencio is ready to get back to work, but he’s still got to consult his lawyers, he said.
“If it was up to me I would start working again today,” he said.
For now, the family will spend a rainy Wednesday soaking in Villavicencio’s freedom.
“We are going to spend time at home with the kids and that’s it,” Chica said. “I’m going to prepare his food, fish — he loves fish.”
Manhattan federal judge Paul Crotty ordered him freed Tuesday, noting he’d been “a model citizen,” and said he has the right to try to obtain a waiver to nix the order of removal.
