A Venezuelan man who donated one of his kidneys to save his younger brother’s life is now being held in US immigration custody and faces possible deportation, despite complying with immigration supervision requirements.
José Gregorio González was taken into the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on July 21 during a routine check-in with immigration officials in Chicago.
According to his lawyer, Peter Meinecke, González had been reporting to ICE weekly after his humanitarian parole expired and had no criminal record.
“I don’t really see a need to necessarily detain him,” Meinecke said.
“He has no criminal record and has been dutifully complying with supervision.”
González donated a kidney to his younger brother, José Alfredo Pacheco, who suffers from end-stage renal disease. The lifesaving transplant was carried out in August 2025 after González was temporarily released from detention on humanitarian grounds.
Pacheco said he had just completed a medical follow-up appointment when he contacted his brother to pick him up from the immigration office.
“Three minutes later, he replied, ‘Brother, I love you. They’re about to deport me.’ That was the only thing he wrote to me,” Pacheco said.
“My world came crashing down,” he added. “My biggest fear is being left alone here.”
González first drew public attention in March 2025 after he was detained before he could undergo the kidney donation. Community members in Chicago later rallied in support of the brothers, leading to his temporary release so the transplant could proceed.
Meinecke criticised the renewed detention, arguing that González posed no threat to public safety.
“Someone who’s committed a very selfless act, like donating a kidney, is still being treated like they’re a threat to this country,” he said.
“It’s an alarming precedent to be setting in terms of how we’re treating immigrants in this country.”
The Department of Homeland Security said González first entered the United States in 2023 before being removed by border authorities. He later returned in January 2024 to care for his brother after Pacheco was diagnosed with kidney failure.
The department stated that González re-entered the country unlawfully and later remained beyond the expiry of his humanitarian parole.
Although he applied for asylum, immigration authorities issued a deportation order after determining he did not meet the initial credible fear standard. Nevertheless, he remained under ICE supervision while his legal case continued.
Meinecke said his legal team had already requested a temporary halt to the deportation order before González was detained again and now plans to seek another humanitarian parole.
He also noted that while González’s recovery from the kidney donation had been progressing well, his brother had experienced serious medical complications following the transplant.
Pacheco revealed that he suffered a severe blood infection earlier this year and credited his brother with supporting him through the ordeal.
“When I felt like I almost didn’t make it, he was the only one who was with me,” he said.
Pacheco also expressed concern about his brother’s health if deported, noting that González still requires regular medical monitoring as a living organ donor.
“He still has to attend his medical appointments, and there is no health care in Venezuela,” he said.
US authorities have confirmed that González will remain in ICE custody while deportation proceedings continue.
Recalling a recent phone conversation with his brother from an immigration detention centre in Missouri, Pacheco said González urged him not to worry despite his uncertain future.
“It’s very hard when we siblings are so close,” Pacheco said.
“We would give our lives for one another. … He is the best of us all.”
