16 THE QUEENS COURIER • JUNE 28, 2018 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
Photo by Jenna Bagcal/THE COURIER
Flushing man facing deportation released from ICE detention center
BY SUZANNE MONTEVERDI
smonteverdi@qns.com / @smont76
Xiuqing You, a Flushing man facing
deportation after showing up for a
green card interview, has been released
from detainment, the Legal Aid Society
announced on Wednesday night.
You, a husband and father of two young
children who has been in the country for
18 years, was arrested by U.S. Immigration
and Customs Enforcement officers (ICE)
on May 23 after appearing for the interview
in Manhattan. He was held at a detention
center in New Jersey as he faced deportation
to China.
On June 20, the Legal Aid Society
announced a federal judge issued an emergency
stay motion for You, temporarily
preventing his deportation. The judge also
ordered that You be immediately released
from ICE detention.
You, who attorneys with Legal Aid say
left China to flee religious persecution, has
no criminal record and runs a nail salon in
Connecticut with his wife Yu Mei Chen,
an American citizen. Chen filed a family
based petition for citizenship on her husband’s
behalf, which was approved by U.S.
Citizenship and Immigration Services. He
was detained during his May 23 interview.
Chen’s recent interview with the Daily
News about her husband’s detainment
sparked outrage among New Yorkers who,
on June 18, organized a rally at Foley
Square in Manhattan to demand You’s
immediate release. The rally was held just
down the block from the U.S. Citizenship
and Immigration Services office where You
appeared for his interview.
In the days following the rally, 12 members
of New York state’s congressional delegation
penned a letter to Immigration and
Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) New York
Field Office on behalf of You. The letter
was signed by New York Senator Kirsten
Gillibrand and Congress members Grace
Meng, Nydia Velázquez, Joe Crowley,
Adriano Espaillat, Yvette Clarke, Kathleen
Rice, Gregory Meeks, Hakeem Jeffries, José
Serrano, Eliot Engel and Carolyn Maloney.
Meng also met with Chen on June 19 at
the representative’s Flushing office, where
Chen discussed her husband’s case and
detainment and its effects on their family.
The congresswoman celebrated news
of You’s release in a statement on June 20.
“You’s fight is not finished but I’m very
happy for his wife and two young children,”
Meng said. “I’m also pleased to have intervened
in his case. But as we welcome this
development, let’s not forget about the many
other families who still remain separated
tonight. I thank all my colleagues who signed
the letter we sent to ICE and I thank the Asian
American Federation for their work, as well.”
An ICE spokesperson told the Courier on
June 18 that You’s detainment was “based
on his final order of removal,” ordered by a
judge in December 2000.
Queens pols
write ICE to have
College Point
deliveryman
freed
BY RYAN KELLEY
rkelley@qns.com / @R_Kelley6
Members of Congress representing
Queens are attempting to get a
College Point pizzeria deliveryman
released from Immigration
and Customs Enforcement (ICE)
custody and learn more about why
he was detained.
The group of 14 representatives
— including Congress members
Grace Meng, Nydia Velazquez,
Joseph Crowley, Hakeem Jeffries,
Gregory Meeks, Thomas Suozzi,
Carolyn Maloney and Senator
Charles Schumer — sent letters
on June 22 to ICE and the Fort
Hamilton Army Base in Brooklyn
in relation to the arrest of Pablo
Villavicencio.
A resident of Hempstead, Long
Island, Villavicencio delivered
a pizza to Fort Hamilton earlier
this month while working for
Nonna Delia’s pizzeria despite not
having a driver’s license. He presented
his IDNYC card to military
police, who then performed a
background check and found that
Villavicencio had an open order of
deportation dating back to 2010.
In the letter to ICE official Tom
Decker, director of the New York
field office, the Congress members
pointed out that Villavicencio
actually had a pending appeal
through the United States
Citizenship and Immigration
Services department related to
his deportation case, but he was
detained by ICE anyway.
“Living in the United States, he
has dedicated his life to his family
— his daughters and wife —
whom are all U.S. citizens,” the
letter said. “Mr. Villavicencio’s
friends, family and the greater
community at large request that
he be granted release from custody
as he exercises the right to exhaust
all his legal options before being
removed from the United States.”
The Congress members also
announced their full support of
Villavicencio’s appeal.
The letter to Colonel Peter Sicoli,
commanding officer of the Fort
Hamilton Army Base, was much
more detailed. The Congress
members expressed concern over
the “questionable” circumstances
surrounding Villavicencio’s
detention at the base and requested
an explanation of the base’s
policies.
Villavicencio’s wife and two
young daughters are all U.S. citizens,
and he has no criminal
record.
Woodside and Sunnyside protest Trump family separations
BY JENNA BAGCAL
jbagcal@qns.com/ @jenna_bagcal
Hundreds gathered and marched from
Woodside to Sunnyside on Monday night
to protest the family separations at the
U.S./Mexico border.
Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer hosted
the “March Against Separation,” which
began in front of St. Sebastian Roman
Catholic Church, located at 58-02 Roosevelt
Ave. and worked its way down Roosevelt
Avenue, across Queens Boulevard and
down Greenpoint Avenue before ending
at Thomas P. Noonan Jr. Playground. The
councilman said that the route chosen for
the march was one that immigrants take
every day.
“All of us are here to say in one voice
in this great borough of ours, that despite
what President Trump would ever say, we
know that immigrants are welcome here in
Queens. Refugees are welcome here. And
families belong together,” said Van Bramer,
whose words were met with cheers from
the crowd.
He mentioned that President Trump
wants to get rid of due process at the border,
referencing the president’s tweet which
suggested that undocumented immigrants
be sent to their countries of origin without
hearings.
The Trump administration’s “zero tolerance”
policy against illegal immigration on
the border began in April and culminated
with law enforcement agents separating
migrant children from their parents. After
a public outcry, Trump signed an executive
order last week calling for the end of family
separations, opting instead to detain families
together. Meanwhile, many questions
remain unanswered as to when, or if, separated
children will be reunited with their
parents.
Protesters held up signs, some that
showed photos of real children who had
been taken from their families, others that
read “Keep families together.” Those who
marched through the streets of Woodside
made their message clear with a chant:
“No hate, no fear. Immigrants are welcome
here.”
Van Bramer thanked the local organization
and individuals who attended
the rally, including Make the Road NY,
SEIU 32BJ, the Emerald Isle Immigration
Center, Woodside on the Move, Jacob
Riis Neighborhood Settlement, Sunnyside
Woodside Action Group, local Girl Scouts
and Assemblyman Brian Barnwell.
“This is a nation and this is a borough
that knows that we are all immigrants, that
we are all the sons and daughters, granddaughters
and grandsons of immigrants.
And we all know that Queens values are
nothing to do with hatred and xenophobia,”
Van Bramer said.
Andres Ceballos, a community organizer
for the Jacob Riis Neighborhood
Settlement, said that there was a lot of misinformation
being spread about Trump’s
family separation. The community organizer
said that these policies known as “prevention
through deterrence” were scare
tactics use to prevent mostly Salvadorians
and Guatemalans from coming in through
the southern border.
“I’d say to those who agree with these
policies to really think what America is
about, and really think through if they
would put their friends, neighbors or families
through the same thing that these children
are going through,” Ceballos said.
Others, like Sunnyside resident Johan
Lopez, said he wanted to quell the beliefs of
some that immigrants, and others seeking
asylum in the United States, are bad people.
“The fact of the matter is, immigrants are
not criminals. We’re not murderers. We’re
neighbors. We’re fathers. We’re brothers,
sisters. We’re families. This march signifies
that fight, and it shows the current administration,
and those that support it, that it’s
not OK,” Lopez said.
Photo courtesy of Congresswoman Grace Meng
Congresswoman Grace
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