The U.S. Attorney's Office in Manhattan has begun the process of appealing the August court victory won by Pablo Villavicencio, who faced deportation proceedings initiated by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials after being detained in June while delivering a pizza to the Fort Hamilton military base in Brooklyn.

Officials from the office of U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman of the Southern District of New York notified the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit late Tuesday of their intent to appeal the Aug. 3 judgment granting Villavicencio's writ of habeas corpus. The order of the court released Villavicencio and stayed deportation proceedings while his legal attempts to obtain lawful resident status are ongoing.

A spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office declined to comment on the decision to appeal.

Villavicencio became a national cause célébre for advocates battling the federal immigration policies enacted by President Donald Trump's Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security, of which ICE is a part.

On June 1, while working as a pizza deliveryman, Villavicencio was flagged by base security at Fort Hamilton over an outstanding warrant of deportation over his failure to voluntarily depart the country in 2010. Despite this, as U.S. District Judge Paul Crotty noted in his Aug. 1 opinion granting writ, Villavicencio has “been a model citizen”—married with two children born in the United States, Villavicencio had no criminal history, paid his taxes and “has worked diligently to provide for his family.”

Ahead of being detained by ICE, Villavicencio and his family had begun the initial steps toward adjusting his immigration status. His spouse, Sandra Chica, a U.S. citizen, filed an alien relative petition for her husband in February. At the time ICE brought deportation proceedings against Villavicencio, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services division of DHS was still processing the request.

In explaining the initial order granting the writ in July, Crotty spoke to the “thoughtless and cruel application of a so called 'zero tolerance' policy” that worked to break families apart. Since DHS provides a path for regularizing an individual's immigration status, one which Villavicencio was on, Crotty found he should be allowed to pursue it.

“There is no justification for this mercurial exercise of executive power,” he wrote.

In a statement, Adriene Holder, attorney-in-charge of The Legal Aid Society's civil practice, said that Villacvicencio and his attorneys were disappointed by the decision by Berman's office to appeal but “not surprised.”

“U.S. District Court Judge Crotty ruled decisively this past summer in favor of Mr. Villavicencio, a family man described by the district court as a 'model citizen,'” Holder said. “We will continue to zealously represent Mr. Villavicencio and fight to keep his family together.”