WABC-TV(NEW YORK) — Lawmakers in Brooklyn are demanding answers after a pizza delivery man was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement when he tried to deliver an order to the Fort Hamilton military base in Brooklyn.
The incident took place on June 1 around 11 a.m., according to Brooklyn councilman Justin Brannan, who represents the district where Fort Hamilton is located. Brannan said some kind of confrontation happened between Pablo Villavicencio, the pizza store employee, and officials on the base.
“It wasn’t his first time delivering a pizza there,” Brannan explained. “In the past he had entered the base with his New York City ID.”
When Villavicencio arrived he was directed to the Visitor Control Center to get a daily pass, according to a statement sent to ABC News by the Fort Hamilton base.
He signed a waiver permitting a background check, and officials were notified that an active ICE warrant was on his file, the statement said.
Villavicencio was then turned over to ICE and is reportedly being held in New Jersey.
“DOD installation commanders are authorized to take reasonably necessary and lawful measures to maintain law and order and protect installation personnel and property,” Fort Hamilton spokeswoman Cathy SantoPierto said in the statement.
Brannan and borough president Eric Adams are working with Villavicencio’s family to figure out exactly what happened.
Brannan and borough president Eric Adams held a press conference Wednesday and are working with the family to try and figure out exactly what happened.
“The arrest of Pablo with a municipal ID is sending shockwaves throughout the immigrant community,” Adams said in the press conference Wednesday. “It was alright to take his pizza but it was also alright to put him in prison.”
“Is our city, state and nation any safer today because they took a pizza delivery guy off the street?” added Brannan.
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