Pizza Deliveryman Arrested at Military Base Jailed Again

An Ecuadorian pizza deliveryman who was held up as an example of zealous U.S. immigration enforcement has been arrested in a domestic violence case.

He was arraigned Saturday on a misdemeanor charge and remained jailed Monday afternoon.

Villavicencio was detained on June 1 after delivering pizza to the Fort Hamilton Army base in Brooklyn. He was seeking to establish legal residency and overcome a 2010 order to leave the country. His wife and two young daughters are U.S. citizens.

Earlier this month, the government declined to appeal the July decision freeing him.

When he ordered the release of Villavicencio over the summer, U.S. District Judge Paul Crotty said he didn’t believe the detention was “accidental or random.”

“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.”

The judge added Villavicencio “deserves it due to his hard work, his dedication to the family, and his clean criminal record.”

Trump signed an executive order halting the “zero-tolerance” policy in June, but is considering new options to create deterrents for immigrant families coming to America.