Gov. Andrew Cuomo is offering free legal representation to the pizza delivery man who was hauled off by immigration agents while delivering food to a Brooklyn Army base.
Cuomo on Friday railed against the detention of undocumented Ecuadorian immigrant Pablo Villavicencio at Fort Hamilton a week ago — and offered to connect him with the state-run Liberty Defense Project to fight his deportation.
“The detention of Pablo Villavicencio as he was delivering pizza at Fort Hamilton — under the gaze of Lady Liberty — goes against everything we believe in,” said Cuomo in a statement.
“Detaining a hardworking man, separating a father from his children and tearing apart communities doesn’t make America safe, and a wrong minded immigration policy grounded in bias and cruelty doesn’t make America great … I will fight this outrageous affront to Pablo Villavicencio and to all of us.”
Villavicencio’s American wife, Sandra Chica, has since been in touch with the governor’s office and says she welcomes the help.
“If the governor is willing to help, we accept his offer. Whatever legal recourse is available to help Pablo,” she said.
Villavicencio, who says he applied for a green card earlier this year, was making a routine delivery to the base from a Queens Italian joint on Friday when a guard asked for identification and refused to accept his usual IDNYC card.
Fort Hamilton officials say they then ran a background check on the 35-year-old dad and found he has an outstanding deportation order from 2010 — so he was detained by military police and then handed over to federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The incident became a hot topic for politicians Wednesday when Democratic Bay Ridge Councilman Justin Brannan and Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams demanded Villavicencio’s release — prompting Republicans Rep. Dan Donovan and state Sen. Marty Golden to come out swinging in favor of Fort Hamilton and ICE.
Cuomo’s Democratic primary opponent, actress Cynthia Nixon, used the incident to attack the governor, saying he needs stop “dragging his feet” on allowing illegal immigrants to get driver’s licenses “or there will be more stories like Pablo’s.”
“This is something that Andrew Cuomo could do if he was serious about protecting our undocumented New Yorkers,” she said at a press conference in Brooklyn.
A Cuomo spokeswoman disputed Nixon’s claim, pointing to reports that anyone without a military issued ID would be subjected to a background check.
Mayor Bill de Blasio also called for Villavicencio’s release Thursday, tweeting: “We demand Pablo Villavicencio Calderón’s immediate release. Delivering a pizza is not a threat to public safety. The ultimate city of immigrants stands ready to provide him and his family with any assistance we can.”
Additional reporting by Nolan Hicks