Many people in Pennsylvania, along with others throughout the nation, were outraged back in July when a 35-year-old immigrant man was arrested while doing his job as a pizza delivery driver. He was stopped at a U.S. army base where he was sent to deliver food. Instead of being allowed to make the delivery, he was arrested and placed in an immigration detention center.
The man is married to a U.S. citizen and has two children who are also citizens. He has been working to rectify his own legal status situation regarding orders for him to leave the country that were issued in 2010. A judge ultimately ordered the man’s release from detention.
Before that happened, however, Governor Andrew Cuomo, who is governor of New York, where the situation occurred, publicly stated that he found the U.S. government’s treatment of this husband and father an outrage. Even the judge who ordered his release added commentary, stating that he finds it cruel and heartless to separate family members just because of a zero-tolerance policy. Those following the case were anxious to see if the federal government would appeal the judge’s decision.
It was recently announced, however, that the government has declined an appeal. The man is now free, reunited with his family and able to continue working to adjust his legal status. There may be Pennsylvania residents currently facing similar immigration detention problems. Such situations can be highly stressful and frightening for families, and it often helps alleviate stress to enlist support from an experienced immigration and naturalization law attorney.