Make The Road NY, Legal Aid, and Council Member Menchaca Rally In Support Of Emergency Stay Motion For Pablo Villavicencio - New Yorker Detained By ICE After Delivering a Pizza To Ft. Hamilton Army Base

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New York, NY — Make The Road New York members, The Legal Aid Society, and Council Member Carlos Menchaca held a rally outside the Immigration Court at 26 Federal Plaza on June 8, 2018, in support of an emergency stay motion filed this afternoon for Pablo Villavicencio. Villavicencio was recently detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) after delivering a pizza to Fort Hamilton Army base in Brooklyn, where a guard contacted ICE after running a background check on Villavicencio. 

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The motion urges ICE to issue an immediate stay of removal on humanitarian grounds so that Villavicencio can continue to pursue a meritorious form of relief from removal - adjustment of status for permanent residency – to remain with his family.

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“Pablo is the bedrock of our family, and our children and I would be lost without him. It is outrageous that he could be taken from us like this,” said Sandra Chica, wife of Pablo Villavicenio. “We call on ICE to do the right thing and let him come home while we fight against his deportation so he can stay here with his daughters.”

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“ICE’s belligerent, indiscriminate, draconian, and wasteful detention of Pablo is the antithesis of human decency and of the values that underlie our city, state, and country,” said Jennifer Williams, Deputy Attorney-In-Charge of the Immigration Law Unit at The Legal Aid Society. “Pablo is the provider for his U.S. citizen wife and children, he pays his taxes, and he has no criminal history. If the Government has any remaining decency, they will grant our motion and release Pablo back to his family and community immediately.”   

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Natalia Aristizabal, Co-Director of Organizing at Make the Road New York, said: "Our community is here to stay, and here to fight for Pablo. We demand that ICE grant Pablo’s stay and release him back to his family immediately. We also call on all New York elected officials to demand that ICE free Pablo immediately.”

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"The current broken immigration system fails all of us. By preventing hard working immigrants from contributing fully to our economy, we both hamper our economic growth and waste tremendous resources on an enforcement system that all agree does not work. Mr. Villavicencio-Calderon deserves an opportunity to fully explore his legal options to remain in the country. He has made this country his home and built a life with a beautiful family,” said Council Member Carlos Menchaca and Chair of the City Council's Immigration Committee.

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Villavicencio is currently detained in New Jersey and could be deported back to his native Ecuador as early as Monday. If the motion is granted, Villavicencio would be released from detention and would be afforded the opportunity to fight his removal proceeding.

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The announcement concerning the motion of stay was made at a press conference and rally outside the Jacob Javits Federal Building in downtown Manhattan. Supporters also announced a public petition to demand that ICE release Villavicencio from detention now.

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