Gov't Won't Appeal Freedom For Pizza Deliveryman Arrested At Army Base
Source: Talking Points Memo/The AP
By LARRY NEUMEISTER
October 7, 2018 9:48 am
NEW YORK (AP) — An Ecuadorian pizza deliveryman freed from an immigration detention facility by a judge who criticized the handling of the case will remain free after the government declined Friday to pursue an appeal.
Attorneys notified the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan that the government won’t challenge a judge’s July decision freeing Pablo Villavicencio.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, said in a statement that he wasn’t surprised. “The federal government is admitting what we already knew — there was absolutely no legitimate reason to lock Mr. Villavicencio up and take him away from his family,” Cuomo said.
Villavicencio, 35, was detained June 1 in New Jersey after delivering pizza to the Fort Hamilton Army base in Brooklyn. The detention came as Villavicencio was in the process of seeking to establish legal residency and overcome a 2010 order to leave the country. He is married to a U.S. citizen. Their two young daughters also are U.S. citizens.
Read more: https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/government-wont-appeal-freedom-for-undocumented-pizza-deliveryman-arrested-at-base
