(BROADVIEW, Ill.) — A man who was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) earlier this month was temporarily released from an Illinois facility on Friday, after community advocates and officials appealed for his freedom so he can resume the kidney donation process in hopes of saving his brother’s life.
José Gregorio González, who was detained by ICE on March 3, was reunited with his brother José Alfredo Pacheco, who is in end-state kidney failure.
The brothers spoke out during a press conference in Chicago on Friday morning, where they were joined by their legal team, local officials and community advocates from the The Resurrection Project — the group that advocated for González’s release.
“I want to inform you that I’m extremely happy for the liberation of my brother. We fought for one month and one day to reach this goal,” Pacheco said in Spanish, addressing a group of supporters. “Thank you to the team of my lawyer Peter, thank you to the press that has helped get to this goal. I’m extremely thankful. Thank you very much.”
Visibly emotional and wearing a mask, Pacheco told reporters that he had a dialysis appointment earlier in the morning and he wouldn’t wish this illness on anybody.
Asked about the first thing he and his brother will do together, Pacheco said that they are going to call their mother so she can see them together.
According to The Resurrection Project, González was released from ICE custody three hours ahead of schedule on Friday morning. He was being held in the Clay County Jail in Brazil, Indiana, ICE records showed, and transferred to Broadview, Illinois, for release.
González answered one question during the press conference, speaking in Spanish.
“He said that he’s very happy for all the help the community has given him, for all the support that he thought was unbelievable, and to see his brother, he thinks it was something just very unbelievable,” a translator said. “He never would have imagined that that was possible.”
According to his attorney Peter Meinecke, González has been granted supervised release for one year.
“ICE has granted José a stay of removal for one year and released him under an order of supervision,” Meinecke said at Friday’s press conference. “This means ICE has decided José’s release is warranted due to urgent humanitarian factors. José will now be able to return home where he can resume the process of donating his kidney and saving his brother’s life.”
He noted that González will have to check in with ICE periodically during this time.
“This is part of an alternative to detention program for individuals whose continued detention is not in the public interest,” Meinecke said on Friday. “While José is released on an order supervision, he will be eligible to apply for a work permit at the end of one year, ICE could detain him and could ultimately seek to remove him to Venezuela.”
An ICE spokesperson provided a statement Friday evening in response to an ABC News request for comment evening stating: “Jose Gregorio Gonzalez, 43, is a citizen of Venezuela who has been ordered removed to his home country by an immigration judge. Gonzalez was arrested and placed in ICE custody March 3 without incident. After providing proper documentation ICE granted Gonzalez a temporary stay on humanitarian grounds.”
Meinecke, an attorney with The Resurrection Project, told ABC News in an interview on Wednesday that Pacheco reached out to the group earlier this month seeking support after González was detained.
Speaking in Spanish, Pacheco addressed a crowd of supporters during a press conference on Monday and called for his brother’s release.
“My health is at serious risk — I have 100% kidney failure and depend on dialysis three times a week,” he said, according to a translation provided by The Resurrection Project.
“It’s extremely difficult — sometimes, I can barely get out of bed. 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. I thought I was alone, but seeing the support of this community has moved me deeply.”
Meinecke said that he had been in touch with González’s ICE officer over the past few weeks and submitted a request for release on temporary humanitarian parole on March 25.
“He needs to show that his release is either in the public interest or is necessary for like, urgent humanitarian factors. And in his case, we argue both,” Meinecke said. “You know, obviously, the medical conditions kind of speak to both. They’re both urgent humanitarian factors by now, but organ donation is in the public interest as well.”
Meinecke explained that Pacheco was admitted into the U.S. from Venezuela in 2023 and was permitted to apply for asylum, so he has a work permit while his asylum application is pending. His wife and three children remain in Venezuela. But soon after he arrived in the U.S., he suffered from stomach pain, according to Meinecke.
“[Alfredo] went to the hospital with severe abdominal pain, which is when he was diagnosed with end-stage kidney failure,” Tovia Siegel, director of organizing and leadership at the Resurrection Project, told ABC News on Wednesday. “At the time, he was told he had 2% functioning of his kidneys and would need dialysis consistently, multiple times a week to survive, and really, his best chance to live a full, healthy life would be a kidney transplant.”
Since his diagnosis in 2023, Pacheco’s condition has deteriorated, Siegel said.
“[Alfredo] currently receives [dialysis] three times a week, from 4 a.m. to 8 a.m., and his brother José came here to help care for him, and with the intention of being able to donate his kidney and save Alfredo’s life,” Siegel said. “And so for the last year, José has essentially been a full-time caretaker for Alfredo, helping with cooking, cleaning, etc, and with the intent to donate his kidney.”
But unlike Pacheco, when González arrived to the U.S. from Venezuela “primarily to assist” his brother, he failed to pass the credible fear screening, which did not allow him to apply for asylum like Pacheco had done, according to Meinecke, so he was detained by ICE for several months and then he was granted temporary supervised release but still faced a pending removal order. During his time on supervised release, González routinely checked in with his ICE officer, provided his address and wore an ankle monitor, Meinecke said.
Siegel said that González was detained while the brothers were leaving their home to go to Pacheco’s kidney dialysis appointment.
“It was shocking and devastating,” she said. “They had been living life together, and an incredibly difficult life where one of the brothers was undergoing incredible medical distress and suffering.”
“They were taking care of one another and surviving for a year together,” she added. “And during that time, clearly, you know, caring deeply for one another, loving each other as family members do. José [Gregorio] had no contact with police, the criminal legal system, and then one morning, with, you know, completely unexpected, ICE came to their home.”
González is likely going to donate for a swap but is hoping he’s a match, according to Siegel.
Friday’s release came after ICE denied on Monday a stay of removal request submitted by his attorneys and then the case was elevated to an ICE Chicago Field Supervisor, according to The Resurrection Project.
“This is literally a matter of life and death,” said Erendira Rendón, vice president of immigrant justice at The Resurrection Project. “ICE has the discretionary authority to release Mr. González on humanitarian grounds. Every day he remains detained is another day his brother’s life hangs in the balance.”
Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
