Pablo Villavicencio, the delivery man arrested and detained by mass deportation agents nearly two months ago, is finally free. Judge Paul Crotty, George W. Bush appointee, ordered Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to release Villavicencio, following a hearing where he blasted the government for continuing to target the man, who has no criminal record and was in the process of gaining legal status through his U.S. citizen spouse when he turned over to ICE by Fort Hamilton officials.
“Well, the powerful are doing what they want, and the poor are suffering what they must,” Judge Crotty said, according to the New York Times. “I mean, is there any concept of justice here or are we just doing this because we want to? Why do we want to enforce the order? It makes no difference in terms of the larger issues facing the country.”
While Judge Alison Nathan had put a temporary halt to Villavicencio’s deportation in early June, the father of two U.S. citizens continued to languish in immigration detention, despite pleas for his release from his legal representatives at Legal Aid Society, his wife, his local community, and federal leaders like Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand and Reps. Hakeem Jeffries, Kathleen Rice and Nydia Velázquez.
Sandra, Villavicencio’s wife, said that as she was taking on the role of primary breadwinner, their two young girls were struggling. “I can see it is affecting them. They are not sleeping right. The other day Luciana woke up crying. She said she dreamed of her dad. He was right here with me? Where is he now, she said. She doesn’t understand why he isn’t home.” Thanks to Crotty’s order, the girls will now have their dad back as he continues to pursue his green card.
"Thank you,” a tearful Villavicencio said following his release from Hudson County Correctional Center in New Jersey. “Thank you for everything. I love this country. I love this country because it gave me this family. [It] gave me my daughters, but I do not share the intolerance and disrespect of the current government."
Villavicencio’s June 1 arrest and detention has become just the latest example of the cruel mass deportation policies of the Trump administration. Policies that prioritized the arrests of people who actually do pose a threat to public safety went out the window following Donald Trump’s inauguration, leaving a chaotic free-for-all by unleashed deportation agents, contrary to Trump’s ongoing lie that ICE is targeting so-called “bad hombres.”
Villavicencio should have never gone through any of this. Instead, the government wasted their time targeting a man who was trying to follow the rules by petitioning for legal status through his wife. The government harmed a family, disrupted Villavicencio’s employer, wasted the court’s time, wasted taxpayer resources, all in a futile attempt to deport a man who should have never been targeted at all.
Thankfully, the courts get it, and while some are being bogged down with Trump lackeys, others are continuing to be a check on the administration. Cotty’s ruling, the New York Times reports, “stays Villavicencio’s removal so that he can continue pursuing permanent residency. To deny him that opportunity, Crotty wrote in the order, would violate his rights.”
“Although he stayed in the United States unlawfully and is currently subject to a final order of removal,” the judge said, “he has otherwise been a model citizen. Petitioner married. He now has two children, both of whom are United States citizens. He has no criminal history. He has paid his taxes. And he has worked diligently to provide for his family.”
In other words, he belongs here, and the absolute least that the government could do is get him his permanent residency as soon as possible. "Today is also an affirmation that the courts can still serve as a check on the executive when it breaks with our laws and principles," said Legal Aid Society’s Adriene Holder. "The Villavicencio family has finally received a crucial measure of relief from their 53-day nightmare and we will continue to fight alongside them to protect their right to remain in the community they call home."