Immigrant detained for deportation after delivering pizza to New York army base
A pizzeria worker in New York City who delivered a pizza to an Army base in Brooklyn was reportedly handed over to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to be deported from the United States.
Reports state that the 35-year-old Pablo Villavicencio-Calderon, who is an undocumented immigrant from Ecuador, worked at a restaurant in Queens and was seized by agents when he was delivering a pizza on Friday to Fort Hamilton.
The man was reportedly separated from his family and was locked in a detention facility in New Jersey and is now awaiting deportation.
Clarendon's wife, Sandra Chica, while talking to the publication El Dario said that her husband had delivered pizza to the Army base before where he presented a New York City identification card to a guard there. However, when he was delivering the order this time, a military police officer demanded a driver's license from him, which Clarendon did not have.
Chica said that her husband of five years was informed that he will be deported to Ecuador next week.
Chica, during a press conference in Brooklyn on Wednesday, said, "A lawyer told me that there is nothing he can do, that he is going to be deported."
ICE, however, released a statement defending its actions and said that Calderon was granted a voluntary departure in 2010 but he did not do so as ordered.
ICE spokesperson, Rachel Yong Yow, in a statement to HuffPost, said, "Pablo Villavicencio-Calderon is an illegally present citizen and national of Ecuador. In March 2010, he was granted voluntary departure by an immigration judge but failed to depart by July 2010 as ordered. As such, his voluntary departure order became a final order of removal and is an ICE fugitive. He remains in ICE custody pending removal.”
Chica said that Clarendon had applied for a green card in February. They have two young children who are both citizens of the United States. Chica added that Clarendon has been the US for nearly a decade.
The incident sparked outrage among many in the region, even the President of Brooklyn Borough, Eric Adams, called the incident "unimaginable" considering the immigrants in NY were told they would not be harassed considering New York is a sanctuary city.
Shortly after the Clarendon's detention, the Mayor's Office of Immigrant Affairs released a statement, promising to investigate Clarendon's case.
The office in a statement said, "Overbroad enforcement against immigrant New Yorkers does nothing to make us safer. We are disturbed by these reports and looking into this situation."
Chica has set up a GoFundMe page, seeking financial assistance after her husband was arrested.
“We are alone in this country,” Chica wrote in her plea for help. “Now I’m by myself.”
Clarendon reportedly spoke to PIX11 News from an ICE detention center and said, "They treated me like a criminal. I did not commit a crime. My daughters need me. My wife needs me."