(RNN) – A pizza delivery has turned into detention for an Ecuadorian immigrant in New York City.
Pablo Villavicencio delivered a pizza on Friday to a Brooklyn military base, Fort Hamilton. He had previously delivered to the base on a number of occasions.
But this time, a security guard at the base’s entrance demanded forms of identification he did not have with him.
Villavicencio, who is married to a U.S. citizen with whom he has two daughters, told the New York Post that the guard called New York police, who reported the delivery man had no criminal record. Undeterred, the guard then called Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
“They treated me like a criminal, and I haven’t committed a crime,” he told the New York Daily News. “I have been there before and always go in and never have had any problems, they actually know me.”
Security officers at the base asked Villavicencio for "valid Department of Defense identification" rather than the city ID he had with him. They then discovered an active ICE warrant for him while doing a background check for a base pass so he could finish delivering the pizza, which apparently had not been required before.
An ICE spokeswoman told outlets that Villavicencio was ordered to leave the U.S. in 2010. It was unclear what prompted the order at that time.
He now faces deportation.
Villavicencio's wife, Sandra Chica, said he applied for a green card in February. She called his detention, and looming deportation, “cruel.”
“This is cruel that they're going to separate my daughters from him," Chica said. "He was supporting the family.”
New York City officials expressed outrage at the case.
“This is absolutely ridiculous,” said a city council member, Justin Brannan. “Is our city, state and nation any safer today because they took a pizza delivery guy off the streets?"
The Post reported he worked for Nonna’s Deli in Queens, where a manager said he was a “great worker.”
The ICE spokeswoman said Villavicencio continues to be detained, pending his deportation.
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