Governor Cuomo offers free legal help to pizza deliveryman facing deportation

Pablo Villavicencio, an undocumented immigrant, has been detained by ICE.

June 7, 2018, 11:35 AM

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is offering free legal help to a pizza delivery man who was detained by immigration authorities when he tried to deliver an order to a military base in Brooklyn.

Cuomo is offering to pay for Pablo Villavicencio's legal fees through the Legal Defense Project.

"Detaining a hardworking man, separating a father from his children and tearing apart communities doesn't make America safe, and a wrong minded immigration policy grounded in bias and cruelty doesn't make America great," Gov. Cuomo said in a statement.

Villavicencio was detained by ICE officials on June 1 when he tried to deliver a pizza to the Fort Hamilton military base in Brooklyn.

The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) seal hangs on a wall at the headquarters in Washington, on Nov. 20, 2014.
Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images

When Villavicencio arrived on the base he was directed to the Visitor Control Center to get a daily pass, according to a statement sent to ABC News by the Fort Hamilton base.

He signed a waiver permitting a background check, and officials were notified that an active ICE warrant was on his file, the statement said.

“The arrest of Pablo with a municipal ID is sending shockwaves throughout the immigrant community,” Brooklyn Borough president Eric Adams told reporters at a press conference Wednesday. “It was alright to take his pizza but it was also alright to put him in prison.”

Pablo Villavicencio was detained by ICE last week after trying to deliver a pizza on the Fort Hamilton military base in Brooklyn
WABC

ICE released a statement saying Villavicencio was granted voluntary departure by an immigration judge in 2010 but failed to depart the country by the July date that was ordered.

His voluntary order became a final order of removal and became an ICE fugitive, according to the statement. He is in ICE custody pending removal.

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