The Ecuadorean immigrant who was held for deportation after he delivered pizza to a Brooklyn Army installation has been released from a New Jersey lockup after a judge Tuesday ordered his immediate release.
Pablo Villavicencio walked out of the immigration detention center in Hudson County shortly before 9 p.m. Tuesday and was greeted with hugs from his jubilant wife and two young daughters. “It’s immense. I’m so happy,” he said in tears.
Hours earlier, U.S. District Judge Paul Crotty wrote of Villavicencio, “Although he stayed in the United States unlawfully and is currently subject to a final order of removal, he has otherwise been a model citizen.”
The judge said Villavicencio can remain in the United States while he exhausts his right to try to gain legal status. Villavicencio applied to stay in the U.S. after he married a U.S. citizen, with whom he has two young girls, ages 2 and 4.
Philadelphia to Stop Giving ICE Access to Real-Time Arrest Database
Philadelphia will stop giving Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) access to a real-time arrest database, saying the agency is misusing the information to conduct sweeps in which otherwise law-abiding immigrants are also being caught up. Federal officials said the decision puts U.S. citizens in danger.
“We’re not going to provide them with information so they can go out and round people up,” Democratic Mayor Jim Kenney said Friday as he announced his decision to let a decade-old contract with ICE expire at the end of next month.
Kenney said immigration officers are wrongly using the database to go to homes and workplaces of people who come from foreign countries of origin and arresting other people who are in the country illegally but are otherwise not accused of any crimes. ICE has previously said it would focus on immediate deportation for people in the country illegally who had felony convictions or who were suspected of felonies.
U.S. Is Giving $10 Million to Help Legal Residents Become Citizens
Despite a new set of guidelines and procedures that tighten immigration policies and expand the possibility of deportations of legal residents, the U.S. government is offering to help lawful permanent residents who apply for citizenship.
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced this week it will use funds collected through fees paid to the service to subsidize citizenship preparation programs across the country under the Citizenship and Assimilation Grant Program.
The up to $10 million in grants is a significant sum for the pro-immigrant organizations, which usually have limited resources to help low-income foreigners become U.S. citizens.
