An incarcerated immigrant pizzeria worker is fighting for home delivery — to his wife and two kids.
Pablo Villavicencio faces imminent deportation after his unexpected arrest last week by federal agents while delivering pizza to a Brooklyn Army base.
“My only crime is to work and be a family man, a father to my daughters,” the weepy dad said Wednesday via phone from a New Jersey detention center. “They don’t want to give me a chance.”
A GoFundMe account to assist Villavicencio, his wife of five years, who is a U.S. citizen, and their two girls was established Wednesday as city officials demanded his release.
“You’re tearing families apart for what?” asked City Councilman Justin Brannan (D-Brooklyn). “Is our city, state and nation any safer today because they took a pizza delivery guy off the streets?”
The base guard kept the pie delivered by Villavicencio as Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents led the devoted dad away — with the threat of deportation as soon as next week.
Villavicencio, 35, lived with his wife and their daughters Luciana, 3, and Antonia, 2, in Hempstead, L.I., until his arrest Friday at the base where he’d brought pizza to service members many times before.
A guard at the Fort Hamilton Army Base started grilling the deliveryman before calling the NYPD and then ICE. A statement from officials at Fort Hamilton said Villavicencio lacked a valid Department of Defense identification, and was sent to get a day pass.
An active ICE warrant was discovered after Villavicencio signed a waiver OK-ing a background check before he could drop off the pies, the statement read.
ICE spokeswoman Rachael Yong Yow said Villavicencio is “illegally present” in the country and agreed to voluntarily leave in 2010, but did not, and so became an “ICE fugitive.”
Pablo Villavicencio with his daughter Luciana and Antonia and wife Sandra Chica. (Obtained by New York Daily News)
The jailed man said he was locked up for 72 hours without so much as a glimpse of sunlight. He could be out of the country before Luciana turns 4 on June 20.
“This is torture,” he said. “They have treated me like a criminal . . . Now I don’t even have a right to face a judge, to defend myself.”
Villavicencio had filed for a green card and permanent U.S. residency in February based on his marriage to American citizen Sandra Chica.
Sandra Chica with her 2-year-old daughter Antonia. (Todd Maisel/New York Daily News)
His daughters, clutching baby dolls, joined their mom and the politicians in calling for the family patriarch’s freedom.
“In one day, your life changes,” said Chica, 38. “It’s cruel that they separated my daughters from him. He was supporting the family. Now I’m going to be alone with these two babies.”
According to Chica, their two small girls are wondering when their daddy is coming home.
Jaimie Gonzalez shows his Mexican pride in support of Villavicencio outside of Fort Hamilton Army Base in Brooklyn on Wednesday. (Todd Maisel/New York Daily News)
“They’re always asking me,” she said. “So many days and nights have passed, and their father doesn’t arrive.”
About 80 protesters gathered outside the base Wednesday to call for his release. Police arrested seven of them for blocking traffic.
“This guy was doing everything right. He was just doing his job,” demonstrator Dan Hetteix said. “Why are we deporting people for doing the right thing?”
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/ny-metro-pizzadeliveryice-20180606-story.html
Pablo Villavicencio faces imminent deportation after his unexpected arrest last week by federal agents while delivering pizza to a Brooklyn Army base.
“My only crime is to work and be a family man, a father to my daughters,” the weepy dad said Wednesday via phone from a New Jersey detention center. “They don’t want to give me a chance.”
A GoFundMe account to assist Villavicencio, his wife of five years, who is a U.S. citizen, and their two girls was established Wednesday as city officials demanded his release.
“You’re tearing families apart for what?” asked City Councilman Justin Brannan (D-Brooklyn). “Is our city, state and nation any safer today because they took a pizza delivery guy off the streets?”
The base guard kept the pie delivered by Villavicencio as Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents led the devoted dad away — with the threat of deportation as soon as next week.
Villavicencio, 35, lived with his wife and their daughters Luciana, 3, and Antonia, 2, in Hempstead, L.I., until his arrest Friday at the base where he’d brought pizza to service members many times before.
A guard at the Fort Hamilton Army Base started grilling the deliveryman before calling the NYPD and then ICE. A statement from officials at Fort Hamilton said Villavicencio lacked a valid Department of Defense identification, and was sent to get a day pass.
An active ICE warrant was discovered after Villavicencio signed a waiver OK-ing a background check before he could drop off the pies, the statement read.
ICE spokeswoman Rachael Yong Yow said Villavicencio is “illegally present” in the country and agreed to voluntarily leave in 2010, but did not, and so became an “ICE fugitive.”
Pablo Villavicencio with his daughter Luciana and Antonia and wife Sandra Chica. (Obtained by New York Daily News)
The jailed man said he was locked up for 72 hours without so much as a glimpse of sunlight. He could be out of the country before Luciana turns 4 on June 20.
“This is torture,” he said. “They have treated me like a criminal . . . Now I don’t even have a right to face a judge, to defend myself.”
Villavicencio had filed for a green card and permanent U.S. residency in February based on his marriage to American citizen Sandra Chica.
Sandra Chica with her 2-year-old daughter Antonia. (Todd Maisel/New York Daily News)
His daughters, clutching baby dolls, joined their mom and the politicians in calling for the family patriarch’s freedom.
“In one day, your life changes,” said Chica, 38. “It’s cruel that they separated my daughters from him. He was supporting the family. Now I’m going to be alone with these two babies.”
According to Chica, their two small girls are wondering when their daddy is coming home.
Jaimie Gonzalez shows his Mexican pride in support of Villavicencio outside of Fort Hamilton Army Base in Brooklyn on Wednesday. (Todd Maisel/New York Daily News)
“They’re always asking me,” she said. “So many days and nights have passed, and their father doesn’t arrive.”
About 80 protesters gathered outside the base Wednesday to call for his release. Police arrested seven of them for blocking traffic.
“This guy was doing everything right. He was just doing his job,” demonstrator Dan Hetteix said. “Why are we deporting people for doing the right thing?”
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/ny-metro-pizzadeliveryice-20180606-story.html
