This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

A federal judge said Tuesday that an Ecuadorian immigrant detained while delivering pizza to a New York army installation must be immediately released from a New Jersey lockup and can remain in the United States while he exhausts his right to try to gain legal status.

Gregory Copeland, an attorney representing Villavicencio, said he was expected to be released on Tuesday night. Villavicencio’s wife said she was home waiting for a car to take her to the detention center, where she would meet with him and lawyers.

Adriene Holder, an attorney with Legal Aid Society, said that “the rule of law, humanity and morality” prevailed when Judge Paul Crotty ordered him released.

Holder added that the judge’s decision “should serve as a rebuke against the Trump administration and its merciless crusade to tear families apart”.

Earlier Tuesday, Crotty had asked if the US government had “any concept of justice” as he questioned the need to deport Villavicencio , who had been kept apart from his American wife and two young children.

The judge put a government lawyer on the spot as he heard legal arguments over whether a court in New Jersey or New York should help decide the fate of Villavicencio, who failed to obey a 2010 deportation order before marrying a US citizen and making a life in America.

Undocumented worker arrested by Ice after delivering pizza to military base Read more

He also questioned the motivations behind the government’s decisions to put Villavicencio, 35, on the brink of expulsion.

“Well, the powerful are doing what they want, and the poor are suffering what they must,” Crotty said after hearing assistant US attorney Joseph Cordaro defend the government’s actions.

“I mean, is there any concept of justice here or are we just doing this because we want to?” the judge asked. “Why do we want to enforce the order? It makes no difference in terms of the larger issues facing the country.”

Cordaro said Villavicencio would still be able to pursue his application to become a legal US resident after he was deported.

The case has attracted widespread attention amid a crackdown by the administration of Donald Trump on illegal immigration.

Democratic governor Andrew Cuomo issued a statement on Tuesday saying the federal government has “cruelly” kept Villavicencio from his wife and two young daughters “for no legitimate reason”.

Villavicencio was detained on 1 June after a routine background check revealed he failed to obey the 2010 order to leave the country.

Villavicencio and his wife, Sandra Chica, have two girls, aged two and four, who played with toys in court on Tuesday. Villavicencio was not in court.

Another judge already temporarily blocked his deportation. He has remained in Ice custody in New Jersey.

“Why is he being detained? Is he a threat to the community? Is he a risk of flight?” Crotty asked. “What is the danger to the community for a man who has committed no crime?”