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While José Alfredo Pacheco, a dialysis patient, desperately waits for a lifesaving kidney transplant in Illinois, his donor and brother, José Gregorio González, is being held in an immigration detention center in Indiana, facing the risk of imminent deportation.
Pacheco, 37, was diagnosed with end-stage renal disease, or kidney failure, in December 2023. Soon after learning of Pacheco's diagnosis, González, 43, traveled from Venezuela to the United States to care for his younger brother. They share the same mother.
On March 3, shortly after Pacheco returned home from a dialysis session, González was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents outside their home. González was then taken to the Clay County Detention Center in Indiana, where he is still being held almost a month later.
Now, attorneys for González are concerned that Pacheco's health may be thrust even further into jeopardy since the 43-year-old could be sent back to Venezuela at anytime, after the Trump administration resumed deportation flights to the country last week. “There’s incredible urgency because José Gregorio could be deported at anytime now,” Tovia Siegel of The Resurrection Project, a Chicago-based nonprofit group representing the brothers, told NBC News.
González was in the United States under ICE supervision. The elder brother sought asylum in 2023 but did not pass an initial credible-fear interview, a screening in which asylum-seekers demonstrate a “significant possibility” of persecution or torture if they're deported back to their home country.
Despite failing that interview, González was still permitted to remain in the U.S. and was mandated to wear a GPS ankle monitor.
ICE uses such orders to place immigrants in one of its supervision programs, allowing it to monitor and keep tabs on undocumented people. The programs, which are meant to serve as alternatives to detention, help immigration officials keep track of those who are not priorities for deportation or need more time to seek legal alternatives to remain in the United States. According to ICE, nearly 179,000 people are being monitored through such programs nationwide.
According to Siegel, González has no criminal record and has been complying with the requirements of his order of supervision. ICE and the Department of Homeland Security did not respond to NBC News' request for comment.
If González is deported, Pacheco will most likely need to wait years to receive a kidney transplant, according to a letter from his doctors obtained by NBC News. “Unfortunately, the mortality on dialysis while waiting for kidney transplantation is extremely high,” the letter notes.
González is the living kidney donor Pacheco desperately needs, because, according to the letter, even in the case of blood group incompatibility with his brother, González could secure a transplant for Pacheco by participating in a paired kidney exchange, which connects pairs of compatible recipients and donors.
A stay of removal to delay or prevent González's deportation was denied without reason on Monday. His attorneys say they plan to ask for a review of that decision. They're also urging immigration officers to consider releasing him on humanitarian parole to complete the kidney transplant for his brother.
“[González] has actually said that he’s willing to return to his home country after being able to do the donation,” Siegel said. “He wants to do the ultimate act of love and generosity to quite literally give a part of his body.”
Last week, González spoke to Telemundo Chicago from inside the Indiana detention center and said he still has hope he will be able to carry out his promise to his brother.
“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.”