NEW YORK: A New York judge who ordered an Ecuadorean immigrant who delivered pizza to an Army installation freed from an immigration detention camp said Wednesday that the government was applying its “zero tolerance” policy toward illegal entry in a “thoughtless and cruel” manner.
US District Judge Paul Crotty explained in a written opinion why he ordered Pablo Villavicencio freed last week from a detention center in New Jersey.
He also nullified a “supervised release” order Villavicencio was told to sign before he was freed that set special conditions he must follow.
In the opinion, Crotty took a swipe at the government’s decision to separate some children from their parents at the Mexican border and then transport the children to New York, saying he did not believe “this is accidental or random.”
Instead, he wrote, the government may be trying to break detainees’ connections to their support system of families and friends and frustrate their ability to retain competent legal representation and effectively participate in legal proceedings. In Villavicencio’s case, the government tried to move the case to a New Jersey court.
In a footnote, Crotty said the behavior reminded him that Thomas Jefferson cited in the Declaration of Independence how colonists were tried in “remote locations” to obstruct the laws for naturalization of foreigners.
“Immigration was even then a critical issue,” Crotty said.
Villavicencio, 35, who is married to a US citizen with two young girls who also are citizens, is trying to establish legal residency. He was arrested and detained June 1 after delivering pizza to the Army garrison in Fort Hamilton.
When he arrived at the installation, guards requested identification, and he produced a city identification card. A background check showed he had been ordered to leave the US in 2010 but stayed. He unlawfully entered the country in 2008.
Crotty ordered him freed a week ago and said he would explain his reasoning later.
Crotty wrote that there was no justification for Villavicencio’s detention and said the man had earned a right to apply to stay in the country legally under a special program set up for individuals in his situation.
“It should not be difficult to discern that families should be kept together rather than be separated by the thoughtless and cruel application of a so called ‘zero tolerance’ policy,” Crotty wrote. “This is especially so where the organization seeking removal has also provided a pathway for a person in petitioner’s position to regularize his immigration status with minimal disruption to his family life.”
He added that Villavicencio “deserves it due to his hard work, his dedication to the family, and his clean criminal record.”
The judge called Villavicencio’s arrest a “mercurial exercise of executive power.”
He said the government had given Villavicencio no explanation or justification to deny him a chance to apply through a program it had established.
“It is not unlike giving a person a job, and then taking away the tools necessary to perform the job. It is simply not right,” Crotty said.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions ordered the “zero tolerance” policy in April.
Through a spokesman, government lawyers declined comment Wednesday.
US judge calls ‘zero tolerance’ immigration policy ‘cruel’
US judge calls ‘zero tolerance’ immigration policy ‘cruel’
- Pablo Villavicencio was detained June 1 after delivering pizza to a Brooklyn Army installation
Australia holds day of reflection to honor victims of Bondi Beach attack
- The gun attack, Australia’s worst in nearly 30 years, is being investigated as an act of terrorism targeting Jews
SYDNEY: Australia held a day of reflection on Sunday to honor those killed and wounded in a mass shooting that targeted a seaside Hanukkah celebration at Sydney’s Bondi Beach a week ago.
The gun attack, Australia’s worst in nearly 30 years, is being investigated as an act of terrorism targeting Jews. Authorities have ramped up patrols and policing across the country to prevent further antisemitic violence.
Australian flags were flown at half-mast on Sunday on federal and New South Wales state government buildings, with an official minute of silence to be held at 6:47 p.m. local time.
Authorities also invited Australians to light a candle on Sunday night “as a quiet act of remembrance with family, friends or loved ones” of the 15 people killed and dozens wounded in the attack, allegedly carried out by a father and son.
“At 6:47 p.m., you can light a candle in your window to remember the victims of the antisemitic terrorist attack in Bondi and support those who are grieving,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on social media platform X late on Saturday.
Albanese, under pressure from critics who say his center-left government has not done enough to curb a surge in antisemitism since Israel launched its war in Gaza, has vowed to strengthen hate laws in the wake of the massacre.
On Saturday, the government of New South Wales, which includes Sydney, pledged to introduce a bill on Monday to ban the display of symbols and flags of “terrorist organizations,” including those of Al-Qaeda, Al Shabab, Boko Haram, Hamas, Hezbollah and Daesh.
Around 1,000 surf lifesavers returned to duty at Bondi Beach on Saturday, restarting patrols after a halt sparked by the shooting on the first evening of the Jewish festival.
A day earlier, Australia’s Jewish community gathered at Bondi Beach for prayers, while hundreds of swimmers and surfers formed a huge circle in the waters off the beach to honor victims.
Alleged gunman Sajid Akram, 50, was shot dead by police at the scene. His 24-year-old son Naveed Akram, who was also shot by police and emerged from a coma on Tuesday afternoon, has been charged with 59 offenses, including murder and terrorism, according to police. He remained in custody in hospital.
Authorities believe the pair was inspired by militant Sunni Muslim group Daesh, with flags of the group allegedly found in the car the two took to Bondi.
