(CNN) A federal court temporarily blocked a pizza delivery man's deportation one week after he was turned over to immigration officials while trying to drop off food at a military base in New York. 
 
 Pablo Villavicencio, 35, remains in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody but will be kept from deportation until July 20. Villavicencio, an undocumented immigrant from Ecuador, was detained June 1 at the Fort Hamilton base in Brooklyn while delivering an order from the brick-oven pizza restaurant in Queens where he worked. 
 
 The Legal Aid Society, an organization that provides legal help to those in poverty, said in a statement Saturday that their attorneys discovered Villavicencio's deportation was imminent so they worked through the night to prepare the emergency stay request. 
 
 "This stay will allow him to pursue a meritorious form of relief from removal -- adjustment of status for permanent residency -- to remain with his family," the legal provider's statement said. 
 
 Gregory Copeland, supervising attorney of the Immigration Law Unit at The Legal Aid Society, said the stay is a victory for Villavicencio, his family and for "due process and the fair administration of justice." 
 
 "This decision is also a reminder that the judiciary can still serve as a powerful check when other branches of government make hasty, cruel and reckless decisions," he said. 
 
 He had been to the base 'many times,' attorney says 
 
 Villavicencio's potential deportation triggered a national response and fear in immigrant communities. 
 
 Villavicencio filed for his green card in February and was waiting for a response when he was detained, his wife, Sandra Chica, said. 
 
 Chica is a US citizen and they have two young daughters who were born in the United States. 
 
 "He's got the wheels in motion in terms of pursuing a legal path to normalizing his status in the country," Copeland told CNN. 
 
 The day he was detained, Villavicencio was trying to deliver an order to the Fort Hamilton Army base in Brooklyn. He showed his New York City identification card to the guard as he had done several times before, but the base said in a statement that he didn't have the proper identification, so he had to get a daily visitor pass. 
 
 Villavicencio ended up "signing a waiver permitting a background check," which revealed there was an active warrant for his deportation and prompted military police to call immigration agents. 
 
 In an interview Sunday, Copeland told CNN that Villavicencio had been to the military base "many times" in the past to make similar deliveries. He'd been there enough, Copeland said, that he was familiar with the facility's personnel. 
 
 In fact, Copeland claims that in the midst of being detained on June 1, Villavicencio called a high-ranking sergeant at the base for help. According to Copeland, the sergeant, who was not named, unsuccessfully tried to intervene. 
 
 There were also "conflicting reports," Copeland said, about whether Villavicencio had actually formally consented to a background check. Copeland called for an investigation into the incident, and reiterated that Villavicencio does not have a criminal record. 
 
 'Our immigrant communities are threatened' 
 
 In response to Villavicencio's arrest, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo wrote two letters to high-ranking officials calling for an investigation into ICE and for Villavicencio's release. 
 
 In a Friday letter to Department of Homeland Security Acting Inspector General John Kelly, Cuomo said immigrant communities are being vilified and profiled as a result of ICE tactics. 
 
 "New York will not sit on the sidelines as our immigrant communities are threatened," Cuomo wrote. "The pattern of conduct demonstrated by ICE agents shows reckless contempt for the Constitution and runs counter to the agency's stated mission as well as federal and state law. I call on your office to immediately investigate ICE tactics and ensure the rights of New Yorkers are being protected." 
 
 Cuomo wrote a letter Saturday to Thomas Decker, field office director of the Department of Homeland Security and Customs Enforcement, explaining that Villavicencio has been a resident of New York for more than 10 years and is a working father, taxpayer and the primary provider for his wife and children, one of whom has a serious medical condition. 
 
 Cuomo also said speed with which ICE is moving to deport Villavicencio threatens to violate his rights, his family's due process rights and creates "an unnecessary humanitarian crisis in New York State." 
 
 "There is absolutely no legitimate reason to proceed with an expedited removal and to do so would be inhumane," Cuomo wrote. "The proper course of action here is to stay Mr. Villavicencio's removal and release him from detention so that he may reunite with his family and participate in the proper adjudication of his case. The Constitutional guarantee of due process affords him that basic right." ||||| / Updated By Phil Helsel 
 
 Lawyers say they’ve won an emergency stay blocking the deportation of an Ecuadorean man who was turned over to immigration officials after making a pizza delivery to an Army base in New York. 
 
 The Legal Aid Society said Saturday that an emergency stay was granted barring the immediate deportation of Pablo Villavicencio, a 35-year-old father of two, who was detained by military police and turned over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement on June 1. 
 
 A judge granted the stay until July 20, but Villavicencio will remain detained, the Legal Aid Society said. The case has sparked outrage from his family and local officials. 
 
 "Although we are disappointed that Pablo will remained detained, today’s stay is a victory for him and his family, and also for due process and the fair administration of justice," Gregory Copeland, Supervising Attorney of the Immigration Law Unit at The Legal Aid Society, said in a statement. 
 
 Villavicencio is an Ecuadorean citizen and was granted voluntary departure in March 2010, but failed to leave the country by July 2010 as ordered, ICE said in a previous statement. His voluntary departure then became a final order for removal. 
 
 Villavicencio was detained after delivering pizza to Fort Hamilton in New York City, officials said. 
 
 United States Army Garrison Fort Hamilton said in a statement this week that at around 11 a.m. on June 1 a person tried to gain access to the base without valid Department of Defense identification. 
 
 In this undated family photo provided by Sandra Chica, Pablo Villavicencio poses with his two daughters, Luciana, left, and Antonia. AP 
 
 The person, later identified as Villavicencio, was sent to get a daily pass and signed a waiver submitting to a background check, something standard for all visitors. The check revealed an active ICE warrant on file, Fort Hamilton said. 
 
 The Legal Aid Society said the emergency stay was based on a habeas corpus petition filed Saturday morning, and that the stay will allow him to pursue relief from removal. 
 
 Villavicencio’s wife, who is an American citizen, has said that her husband has a pending green card application they filed in February. She said that he presented an IDNYC card, a city government-issued form of identification, and that he never had a problem before. 
 
 Copeland, of the Legal Aid Society, said in the statement that the court agreed that Villavicencio “should be afforded a full and fair opportunity to present his case in Federal Court.” 
 
 New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, who on Friday called for an investigation into ICE conduct, wrote a letter to the field director for the Department of Homeland Security in support of an application for a stay of removal, and requested that Villavicencio be released from ICE custody. 
 
 Cuomo wrote in the letter that when Villavicencio made the delivery to the base, "it appears that there was conflict among those personnel as to whether Mr. Villavicencio needed to provide any additional identification because he was known to them based on previous deliveries he had made to the facility." 
 
 Cuomo said that Villavicencio has been a resident of New York City for over 10 years, and that "he is a working father, a taxpayer, and the primary provider for his U.S. citizen wife and two daughters, one of whom suffers from a serious medical condition." 
 
 "The circumstances of this case, including the arrest and detention of Mr. Villavicencio and the remarkable speed with which it appears he is being removed, reflects a pattern of conduct which I have previously raised with ICE as unconscionable and seemingly targeted directly at New York residents," Cuomo said in the letter. "There is absolutely no legitimate reason to proceed with an expedited removal and to do so would be inhumane." 
 
 CORRECTION (June 16, 2018, 9:40 p.m. ET): A previous version of this article misstated the date of a stay in the case. The stay was granted until July 20, not June 20. ||||| Legal Aid Society lawyer Jennifer WIlliams, who represents Ecuadorean restaurant worker Pablo Villavicencio, shows the Application for Stay of Deportation or Removal she filed at the offices of the Immigration... (Associated Press) 
 
 Legal Aid Society lawyer Jennifer WIlliams, who represents Ecuadorean restaurant worker Pablo Villavicencio, shows the Application for Stay of Deportation or Removal she filed at the offices of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement, in New York, Friday, June 8, 2018. Villavicencio, who was making... (Associated Press) 
 
 NEW YORK (AP) — A federal judge on Saturday temporarily blocked the deportation of a New York pizza shop worker to his native Ecuador after he was arrested while making a delivery to a Brooklyn Army base. 
 
 Attorneys for The Legal Aid Society obtained the temporary stay for Pablo Villavicencio after a hearing in Manhattan federal court. 
 
 The 35-year-old married father of two young girls was arrested on June 1 while making a delivery to the garrison in Fort Hamilton. A routine background check revealed there was a warrant for his arrest for immigration law violations. 
 
 Federal Judge Alison Nathan granted the stay until July 20. Villavicencio will remain in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody in New Jersey until his case goes to court. 
 
 New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo had asked federal homeland security officials to look into the case, saying recent detentions raise significant legal questions. 
 
 In a letter to the ICE office in New York, the Democrat said Villavicencio's "expedited removal serves no legitimate public safety purpose and the circumstances leading to his arrest and detention raise serious legal and policy concerns." 
 
 Villavicencio's wife, Sandra Chica, is an American citizen and their daughters, ages 2 and 3, were born in the U.S. 
 
 When he arrived at Fort Hamilton, guards requested identification and he produced a city identification card. A background check showed that Villavicencio had been ordered to leave the United States in 2010, but stayed. 
 
 Redmond Haskins, a spokesman for The Legal Aid Society, a not-for-profit organization that provides free services to clients who cannot afford them, said Villavicencio has no criminal record. 
 
 Haskins said attorneys worked through the night preparing the emergency stay request that was argued in court on Saturday afternoon. 
 
 "Although we are disappointed that Pablo will remained detained, today's stay is a victory for him and his family, and also for due process and the fair administration of justice," said Gregory Copeland, the supervising attorney of Legal Aid's Immigration Law Unit. "This decision is also a reminder that the judiciary can still serve as a powerful check when other branches of government make hasty, cruel and reckless decisions." 
 
 The attorneys said they will work with Villavicencio to help him secure valid immigration status.
– The Ecuadorian who tried to deliver pizza to a NYC Army base and ended up with a deportation order has been granted an emergency stay by a federal judge, reports NBC News. The stay gives Pablo Villavicencio relief from being returned to Ecuador until July 20, reports the AP, though he'll remain in ICE custody. Villavicencio is a father of two who's married to an American citizen and has a green card application pending. The court found that he "should be afforded a full and fair opportunity to present his case in Federal Court," per a rep of the Legal Aid Society, which is representing him. Villavicencio has at least one big dog in his corner: New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who wrote letters on his behalf to both ICE and DHS acting inspector general John Kelly. Villavicencio "is a working father, a taxpayer, and the primary provider for his U.S. citizen wife and two daughters, one of whom suffers from a serious medical condition." Per CNN, he wrote that "New York will not sit on the sidelines as our immigrant communities are threatened," and that "a pattern of conduct demonstrated by ICE agents shows reckless contempt for the Constitution" that "creates an unnecessary humanitarian crisis in New York State."