A Venezuelan man who wants to donate a kidney to his brother faced deportation. ICE has temporarily released him

A Venezuelan man who came to the US to donate a kidney to his brother learned this week he’d be deported, but days later, he was granted a reprieve, an advocate said.

A Venezuelan man who came to the US to donate a kidney to his brother learned this week he’d be deported, prompting desperate pleas for him to be released from immigration custody on humanitarian grounds. Days later, Jose Gregorio Gonzalez was granted a reprieve from deportation, an advocate said. Though temporary, the reprieve means Gonzalez can continue to help his brother, Jose Alfredo Pacheco, by driving him to dialysis and, possibly, becoming a kidney donor. Pacheco immigrated to the United States from Venezuela in 2022 seeking asylum, said Tovia Siegel, director of organizing and leadership for immigrant justice at the Resurrection Project. His case, filed in 2023, is still pending. He began experiencing abdominal pain that year, after arriving in the Chicago area. Pacheco, 37, sought treatment at a local hospital and was diagnosed with end-stage renal disease, or kidney failure, Siegel said. Gonzalez, 43, learned of his brother’s diagnosis and came to the United States at the end of 2023. He presented himself at the border on two occasions: On his first attempt, he did not pass a credible fear interview and was denied entry. On his second try, he used an app created by Customs and Border Protection which, during the Biden administration, allowed asylum seekers to schedule interviews at the border. “Because he had a prior removal order, at that point, he was detained,” Siegel told CNN.