Marcos Villanueva was taking his wife out for a cafecito early on Aug. 8, as was often their custom, when the couple was pulled over by immigration agents in three black vehicles.

Villanueva, who has lived in Southern California for 13 years, admits to residing in the country illegally. But when he was picked up, there was nothing in his life that would have drawn attention to his deportation case, his family and attorney said, except this: The family recently appeared in an Orange County courtroom to support their young daughter when she accused an uncle of molestation and attempted rape.

“I do not believe his detention is a coincidence,” said his attorney, Willard Bakeman, who suspects the uncle accused of the molestation tipped off U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement of Villanueva’s illegal immigration status.

His life has been in limbo ever since. On Tuesday, Oct. 23, the 40-year-old faces an order of deportation.

“I believed in justice in this country. My husband, he doesn’t owe anyone anything. He is not a criminal. He pays his taxes every year. He is a good father. He is a good person,” said Villanueva’s wife, Jenie Villalvir.

“The man who should be in jail is out while my husband is detained,” Villalvir said.

Villanueva has been at the James A. Musick Facility adjacent to Irvine since he was detained near his Anaheim home. Villanueva’s attorney requested a deportation order issued in 2005 be halted and set aside. He’s seeking relief in federal District Court in Santa Ana and filed an appeal with the Board of Immigration Appeals, his attorney said.

Bakeman said the rush to deport his client, who has no criminal record, is unique.

“It is the first and only time in 25 years that I have seen them deport a person they knew was on appeal,” Bakeman said Saturday, Oct. 20.

Villanueva traveled to the United States 13 years ago from his native Honduras after gang members shot him and killed his friend in front of him.

“I knew they would come looking for me because I was a witness to my friend’s murder,” Villanueva said from the Musick jail Thursday, Oct. 18.

Villanueva first was detained in August 2005 in Texas. Immigration officials issued him a notice to appear in court. Villanueva failed to attend, and the government ordered him removed in absentia.

He didn’t show up, Bakeman said, because the notice failed to include date, time or location.

The order was “fatally defective,” making Villanueva’s deportation order not valid, Bakeman argued in court documents.

Further, Villanueva said, he has credible reasons to fear for his life if he’s sent back to Honduras. His attorney said Villanueva has “a good asylum claim that’s never been heard.”

An ICE spokeswoman, citing confidentiality, did not comment on Villanueva’s case other than to confirm he is in custody pending his deportation.

“While ICE continues to focus its enforcement resources on individuals who pose a threat to national security, public safety and border security, the agency does not exempt classes or categories of removable aliens from potential enforcement,” ICE spokeswoman Lori Haley wrote in an e-mail.

With her husband in custody, Villalvir took a job in an assembly line to make money and help take care of their daughters, including the girl, now 12, who said an uncle had molested her for a period of time. The family learned of the assaults when police knocked on their door after being notified by the girl’s school. A judge dismissed that case in July due to a lack of evidence, according to the family. The girl remains in therapy.

Villanueva, who has worked as a house painter, said he’s anxious to get out not only for himself and to support his wife and two daughters in Anaheim, but also so he can continue sending money back home. But he’s not sending money back to his family. He said he’s paying a monthly bribe to a Honduran gang so they won’t assault and hurt his mother and another teenage daughter left in Honduras.

“I ask God to give me the opportunity to be out and keep paying their fee. I’ve worked hard to save them from that terror.”

Of the uncertainty surrounding his future, Villanueva said he’s never been in trouble in the 13 years he’s been in this country. “My record is clean, clean, clean.”