An illegal immigrant who gained national notoriety after he was detained while delivering a pizza to an army base in June has been arrested and charged with criminal mischief after allegedly assaulting his wife.

Pablo Villavicencio, who was exempted from deportation by a judge after his cause was taken up by prominent immigration activists, was arrested early Monday and taken to the Nassau County Detention Center. He allegedly pushed his wife against a wall and slapped her before confiscating her phone to prevent a call for help, according to police documents reviewed by a local NBC affiliate.

U.S. District Judge Paul Crotty, who ruled in June that Villavicencio could remain in the U.S. while exhausting all attempts to gain citizenship, praised him as a โ€œmodel citizenโ€ in that decision.

โ€œAlthough he stayed in the United States unlawfully and is currently subject to a final order of removal, he has otherwise been a model citizen,โ€ Crotty wrote. โ€œHe has no criminal history. . . . He has paid his taxes. And he has worked diligently to provide for his family.โ€

In responding to the governmentโ€™s argument that Villavicencio should be subject to deportation, Crotty argued that doing so would not be in the national interest.

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

New York governor Andrew Cuomo attacked Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for โ€œcruellyโ€ detaining Villavicencio โ€œfor no legitimate reasonโ€ during his brief detention in June.

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York called Villavicencioโ€™s detention โ€œshamefulโ€ and used the incident as a cudgel to bash the Trump administrationโ€™s zero-tolerance immigration-enforcement policy, which she said was โ€œinhumane, plain and simpleโ€ and did โ€œnot make our country safer.โ€

ICE officials confirmed to NBC that Villavicencio will not be deported while there are criminal charges pending against him.