A man who was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in the Chicago area after traveling to the U.S. to help his brother in kidney failure has been released from custody to make a life-saving organ donation.
José Gregorio González's story made headlines this week after community members rallied to show support for the brothers, one of whom suffers from end-stage renal failure.
González has been detained by ICE since March 3, when he was arrested after accompanying his brother, José Alfredo Pacheco, to a dialysis appointment. At the time, the brothers had just finished scheduling an appointment for testing González as part of a kidney transplant.
But upon their return, González was taken into custody.
"They asked his name, he told them and the officer told him, 'We are the ICE team. We have a deportation order from the judge. Don't run because it will be worse,'" Pacheco told Telemundo Chicago in Spanish.
Pacheco told the station his "world came to a melting end" that day.
"I'm here alone," he said.
González, 43, traveled to the U.S. from Venezuela last year to aid in his younger brother's medical care. Pacheco receives four hours of dialysis multiple times a week, beginning at 4 a.m.
"My health is at serious risk — I have 100% kidney failure and depend on dialysis three times a week from 4 a.m. until 8 a.m. It's extremely difficult — sometimes, I can barely get out of bed," he told a crowd of supporters at a rally earlier this week. "I have three children, 9-year-old twins and a 17-year-old back home, and I want to live to see them grow up. My brother used to take me to my appointments, but now I'm alone. My brother is a good man, not a criminal in Venezuela or here — he came only with the hope of donating his kidney to me."
González sought asylum in the United States, but did not pass an initial credible fear interview and had a deportation order placed on him, NBC News reported. He was, however, allowed to remain in the U.S. under ICE supervision.
"He had no criminal record," said Tovia Siegel, director of organizing and leadership at The Resurrection Project's Immigrant Justice Department, which is working on the case.
"The Republican Party, under President Trump, claims they would only pursue dangerous criminals for detention, yet Jose Gregorio has been living here peacefully for years. Now he's detained despite posing no threat to anyone," State Rep. Edgar Gonzalez, Jr. (D-23rd District) said during the rally this week. "The Republican Party also claims to be the party of life, but by arresting Jose Gregorio, they are effectively signing a death sentence for Jose Alfredo. Their actions directly contradict the values they claim to uphold."
Speaking to Telemundo Chicago in Spanish last week in a phone call from inside an Indiana detention center, González said, “I hope I can go out and achieve that goal of giving my kidney to my brother."
"I hope he has a lot of faith and patience that we will soon be together and do the transplant," he said.
On Friday, González's hope became reality.
Following the community push for González's release, ICE agreed to a temporary humanitarian parole to complete the kidney donation for his brother. On Friday, the siblings were reunited.
"This marks a victory for humanity and compassion in a time when our immigrant communities face unprecedented threats," Erendira Rendón, vice president of immigrant justice at The Resurrection Project, said in a statement.
"The power of community organizing has proven once again that we are not powerless, even in the most adverse circumstances. This case demonstrates that when we stand together, we can achieve justice that recognizes our fundamental humanity beyond immigration status."
A sanctuary city is a city that limits its cooperation with federal immigration enforcement agents in order to prevent undocumented immigrants from deportation.
