BROOKLYN, NY
What Pablo Villavicencio thought was going to be just another pizza delivery and drop-off, turned out to be anything but that. What should’ve been a normal delivery, ended in the immigrant from Ecuador being detained by ICE agents.
The New York Post (@nypost) reports, Villavicencio traveled to Fort Hamilton Military Base on Friday to drop off some catered food. He was detained by military police when a guard asked for more identification than his IDNYC card.
“I was delivering food to the military base and they detained me, I have been there before and always go in and never have had any problems, they actually know me and the sergeant knows me for some time doing delivery. Last Friday there was a different security guard and he told me I needed to go get another pass to enter. And I proceeded to do that. A tall man with dark skin started to ask me many questions, he asked me about why I didn’t have a social security card. He called the NYPD and the NYPD told him I didn’t have any record that I was clean. But the man said ‘I don’t care’, he said I need to keep waiting and he called ICE.” Villavicencio told the NY Post during a phone interview from the immigration detention center on Wednesday.
A spokeswoman for the base told the Post that Villavicencio was directed to obtain a daily pass when he couldn’t produce a Department Of Defense ID. But when he signed a waiver for a background check, an active Immigration and Customs Enforcement warrant was discovered on file. A US Immigration Customs Enforcement spokeswoman told the Post that Villavicencio has been an “ICE fugitive” since 2010 when a judge ordered him to leave the country.
Villavencio is undocumented, but he is married to a US citizen. The couple live in Long Island and have two daughters. Villavencio has applied for a green card, but now getting one seems unlikely, as he is slated to be deported within a matter of days, according to his wife.
“It’s cruel that they’re going to separate my daughters from him. He’s supporting the family and now I’m going to be by myself with them.” Villavencio’s wife, Sandra Chica, who works part-time as a medical assistant, said about the situation. A manager at the Queens deli that employed Villavencio said that “he was a great worker.”
NAYZE MEDIA 