After being detained for over a month by immigration authorities, Jose Gregorio Gonzalez was released on Friday morning to proceed with the process of donating a kidney to his brother.
Gonzalez, who came to the United States to support his brother battling kidney failure, was informed earlier in the week that he would be deported, leading to urgent appeals for his release from immigration custody on humanitarian grounds. Days later, Gonzalez received a temporary reprieve from deportation, according to an advocate.
Gonzalez will be permitted to remain in the US for one year under humanitarian parole, the brothers’ attorney, Peter Meinecke, announced on Friday during a news conference following Gonzalez’s release.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement issued a similar statement on Friday, telling CNN, “After reviewing proper documentation, ICE granted Mr. Gonzalez a temporary stay on humanitarian grounds.”
Gonzalez is subject to an order of supervision and will be required to check in periodically with ICE. He will also be eligible to apply for a work permit, according to Meinecke.
“Most professionals in the field of immigration law will tell you that outcomes like this are uncommon,” Meinecke stated.
His release is the result of a campaign organized by the Resurrection Project, a Chicago-based non-profit organization, aimed at persuading ICE agents to allow Gonzalez to remain with his brother, Jose Alfredo Pacheco.
“Jose (Gonzalez’s) case, while not unique in its circumstances, is significant in its potential to demonstrate a way to resist this reality,” Meinecke explained.
Illinois Congressman Jesus “Chuy” Garcia, a Democrat, also worked behind the scenes to facilitate Gonzalez’s release, including writing a letter of support and contacting ICE “multiple times” on Gonzalez’s behalf, organizers reported.
Gonzalez and Pacheco were reunited on Friday with an emotional embrace following Gonzalez’s release, as shown in video footage from CNN newsgathering partner Univision.
The brothers later stood together during the news conference, occasionally clasping each other’s hands.
“I am extremely happy about my brother’s release,” Pacheco told the audience, speaking in Spanish with the aid of an interpreter. “We grew up very close, very united… we remained very close. So imagine, they separated me from him for a month and a day without knowing what was going to happen to him.”
He mentioned that the first thing he and Gonzalez plan to do is call their mother, so she can see them together.
Gonzalez also made a brief statement, expressing his gratitude for the “unbelievable” support from the community.
“He never would have imagined that was possible,” an organizer translated for him.
Jose Gregorio Gonzalez, left, and Jose Alfredo Pacheco stand united during a news conference on Friday, April 4, following Gonzalez’s release from ICE custody. WLS Although temporary, the reprieve allows Gonzalez to continue assisting his brother by driving him to dialysis and, potentially, becoming his kidney donor.
Pacheco immigrated to the United States from Venezuela in 2022 seeking asylum, according to Tovia Siegel, director of organizing and leadership for immigrant justice at the Resurrection Project. His asylum case, filed in 2023, is still pending.
He began experiencing abdominal pain that year, after arriving in the Chicago area. Pacheco, 37, sought treatment at a local hospital and was diagnosed with end-stage renal disease, or kidney failure, Siegel said.
Gonzalez, 43, learned of his brother’s diagnosis and came to the United States at the end of 2023. He presented himself at the border on two occasions: On his first attempt, he did not pass a credible fear interview and was denied entry. On his second attempt, he used an app created by Customs and Border Protection which, during the Biden administration, allowed asylum seekers to schedule interviews at the border.
“Because he had a prior removal order, he was detained at that point,” Siegel told CNN.
He was released several months later under an order of supervision because Venezuela was not accepting deportation flights at the time, Siegel explained. The order required him to check in regularly with immigration authorities and to wear an ankle monitor, but it enabled him to live with and care for his brother over the past year.
“Throughout that time, they were undergoing the necessary tests to determine if Jose could donate his kidney to Alfredo,” Siegel said.
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They were preparing for the possibility of an operation when ICE agents arrived on March 3 at the Cicero, Illinois, home where the brothers resided, Siegel said. They took Gonzalez into custody.
On Monday, a judge denied Gonzalez’s request for a stay of removal, causing his brother and immigration advocates at the Chicago-based Resurrection Project to fear his imminent deportation.
However, on Wednesday, his attorney received notification that ICE would grant Gonzalez humanitarian parole, allowing him to temporarily remain in the United States to continue caring for Pacheco – and potentially make the life-saving organ donation.
At a vigil held on Monday night calling for Gonzalez’s release, before ICE granted the humanitarian parole, Pacheco informed the crowd that he requires four hours of dialysis three times a week to survive without a transplant.
“It’s extremely difficult – sometimes, I can barely get out of bed,” he said in Spanish. “My brother is a good man… He came only with the hope of donating his kidney to me.”
Since the beginning of March when Gonzalez was detained, Pacheco has been bearing the burden of his diagnosis alone.
“He’s tired, he’s nauseous, and because his brother hasn’t been here, he’s had to drive himself to and from appointments,” Siegel said. “So, aside from the incredible emotional pain of the family separation and detention, there have also been really significant practical struggles for Alfredo.”
As of April 1, more than 90,000 people in the United States were on the kidney transplant waiting list, according to the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network. Data from the organization shows that through February of this year, the most recent data available, fewer than 4,500 people had received a transplant. And only 1,000 of those donations came from living donors.
The brothers plan to resume the process of determining their compatibility for the transplant. If they are not compatible, they will participate in a program called a “paired kidney exchange,” which connects one or more pairs of compatible donors and recipients.
“What’s pretty amazing about it is it actually means that by donating his kidney, Jose Gregorio would actually save two people’s lives,” Siegel said, “because there would be two people in need of transplants who would receive them.”
