ICE detains Venezuelan man who had been released on humanitarian parole to donate kidney to brother

Jose Gregorio Gonzalez, a Venezuelan migrant who was temporarily released from ICE detention last year so he could donate a kidney to his dying brother, has once again been detained by immigration authorities in Chicago.

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Gonzalez was arrested July 21 during a routine ICE check-in while his attorney was seeking to extend his humanitarian parole, which would have allowed him to remain in the country for another year as he and his brother continued recovering from the lifesaving transplant.

“At least until the two of us are healthy enough to recover from the transplant,” said Alfredo Pacheco, Gonzalez’s youngest brother and the one who received the kidney. Since the transplant in August of last year, Pacheco has had several complications from the procedure and has relied on his brother to care for him, he said.

After a public campaign last year that drew national attention, ICE granted Gonzalez a humanitarian parole of one year, which expired in March. He remained in the country under an order of supervision, regularly checking in with immigration officials while his attorney, Peter Meinecke, senior staff attorney at The Resurrection Project, sought an extension

“He wasn’t picked up until July at ICE’s discretion,” Meinecke said. ICE has not responded to the attorney’s request to extend his stay at least until March of next year.

The Department of Homeland Security didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Now, once again, the siblings are hopeful that the federal government will grant Gonzalez a few more months to care for Pacheco as he continues to recover. He remains under medical monitoring to ensure that the transplant is successful.

“I never want to go through this again (being in a detention facility),” Gonzalez told the Tribune last year. However, he told Pacheco on a phone call from the Greene County facility in Missouri that he is willing to fight his deportation while Pacheco’s health remains precarious. He’s been hospitalized several times since the lifesaving operation.

Since Pacheco arrived in the Chicago area from his native Venezuela, “life has been a roller coaster. A painful struggle,” he said.

After moving to Chicago, Pacheco applied for asylum in July 2022. He said he fled from violence and political turmoil since he was a part of the armed forces in Venezuela. He had hoped to find a job and eventually bring his wife and children.

But in January 2024, he ended up in the emergency room, experiencing strong stomach pain and nonstop vomiting. Doctors determined that he had end-stage renal failure.

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Gonzalez was already at the southern border when he learned of his younger brother’s prognosis. Although agents denied him entry the first time, he tried to enter again, knowing he was his brother’s lifeline. This time, he managed to cross and in March 2024, was released under immigration supervision.

The wait for a kidney transplant through the public health system can take several years, if a patient ever receives one.

“But I had faith, he was my only hope to keep living,” said Pacheco.

After a long and complicated process to get approved for the transplant under public insurance, the brothers had an appointment in a Chicago hospital in April 2025 to go forward with more tests for the organ exchange. But in March of the same year, less than two months after President Donald Trump took office, federal immigration authorities arrested González outside his home in Cicero while he was working on his car.

“My world completely fell apart,” Pacheco said.

The Tribune broke the story of Gonzalez’s arrest. After a two-week campaign to secure his release, including support from Sen. Tammy Duckworth, Sen. Dick Durbin and U.S. Rep. Jesús “Chuy” García, the miracle they had hoped for happened: ICE granted Gonzalez humanitarian parole.

The brothers underwent kidney transplant surgery at the University of Illinois Hospital in Chicago on Aug. 14, 2025.

Despite the struggles, “we keep each other strong,” Pacheco said. The two siblings are the only members of their family in the United States.

Over the months since the surgery, the Chicago-area community has come together to raise funds that helped the brothers pay for rent and food while they recovered. Pacheco, however, is now back at work.

He wakes up at 1 a.m. and works as many hours as he is allowed, delivering Amazon packages throughout the city and suburbs. During his last appointment with doctors, “things weren’t looking too well,” he said.

“I think of my brother all the time and everything that he has had to go through. I’m not well,” Pacheco said. “His love has been unconditional and I just don’t understand why they (ICE) treat us this way, as if we weren’t human. Not considering our health at all.”

Now their plea to allow Gonzalez to remain in the country for at least one more year begins again.

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