Judge Halts Deportation Of Queens Cab Driver Hours Ahead Of Expected Removal

Edisson Barros and his daughter Paola at her high school graduation

The imminent deportation of a father of two and longtime New York City cab driver has been halted, after a federal judge ordered a surprise stay late Thursday night, just hours ahead of his expected removal to Ecuador.

Edisson Barros, a resident of Maspeth, Queens for the last 25 years, was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement last month while appearing in court for a summons, which he received following a dispute with a reckless driver who nearly ran over the family dog, his daughter says. The criminal mischief charge was ultimately dropped, but ICE agents still detained Barros, first at Hudson County Correctional, and more recently moving him to a facility in Louisiana.

The stay of deportation issued by Judge Katherine Polk Failla will allow Barros to remain in the United States while he fights his legal case—though it's unclear where in the country that will happen. Gregory Copeland, Supervising Attorney with the Immigration Law Unit at the Legal Aid Society, told Gothamist that Barros's legal team would be renewing their requests to have him brought back to New York and reunited with his family.

"One of the things the government does is put immigrants in remote places where they're far from their families and far from their attorneys," Copeland said. "We've seen that on a systemic basis with the family separation issue—it's an effort to interfere with the attorney-client relationship that's patently unlawful."

He likened Barros's emergency stay of deportation to those received by Pablo Villavicencio and Xiu Qing You. "We've done this now three times in the last two months," noted Copeland. "It's happening more because you're seeing indiscriminate enforcement of priorities to target anyone in the country."

A GoFundMe account created by Barros's daughter Paolo notes that her father "was the breadwinner, and he worked so many hours as a cab driver. Now I am the only source of income for my family, which includes my sister and mother."

In recent weeks, those close to Barros have also alleged that he was abused while in Hudson County Correctional. "The conditions are atrocious—he's being threatened with solitary confinement, denied necessary medical care, and essentially tortured," Carlos Jesus Calzadilla-Palacio, a spokesman for the family, told us. "One of his children has a disability, and one of them would have to drop out of college" if he is deported, the spokesperson added.

While Barros's fate remains uncertain, news of the emergency stay was celebrated Friday by City Councilmembers Francisco Moya and Carlos Menchaca.

"The ultimate goal is to reunite Edisson with his family," said City Councilmember Carlos Menchaca. "But first a stay of deportation was needed, and thanks to the incredible and tireless work of the Legal Aid Society, the Barros family now has a fighting chance."