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The longtime manager of a high-end Palm Beach restaurant has been released from immigration detention after spending nearly a week at the controversial Alligator Alcatraz detention facility, located deep in the Everglades.
Jose Gonzalez, a 53-year-old native of Mexico, has lived in the United States for 30 years — 20 of which he’s spent working at Bice Ristorante, an upscale Italian restaurant on Worth Avenue. Neighbors describe him as a beloved member of the community, regularly greeting and seating guests as the spot’s popular maitre d’.
But on December 10, while out on a supply run for his nephew’s taco food truck, the two were pulled over by the Florida Highway Patrol, allegedly for having tinted windows. Gonzalez and his 22-year-old nephew were then turned over to immigration officials, Gonzalez’s attorney, Jeffrey Devore, previously told New Times. Gonzalez was being held at the Everglades facility in conditions that Devore said make a “Motel 6 look good.” He said that Gonzalez’s family couldn’t understand why he was detained and noted that Gonzalez never received a traffic citation for the tinted windows.
“He’s got a pending application for asylum, and he has a valid work permit. There’s no criminal history or anything like that,” Devore told New Times. “He’s just working, minding his own business. He doesn’t really fit within the profile that President Trump said that he was going to go after.”
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Gonzalez was released from immigration detention on December 22, according to the Palm Beach Post. He was transferred to Krome North Service Processing Center, widely known as Krome Detention Center, before being released three days before Christmas. His younger brother, Javier, credited elected officials, the Palm Beach community, and members of President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club for helping secure Gonzalez’s release.
Nestor Iglesias, a spokesman for U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement (ICE), told New Times that Gonzalez was taken into the custody of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), not ICE. According to CBP, Gonzalez’s encounter with federal authorities began with a routine traffic stop.
“On Dec. 10, Jose Heriberto Gonzalez-Gonzalez, a 53-year-old Mexican national, was encountered by Florida Highway Patrol during a vehicle stop for a traffic violation,” CBP spokesman Alan Regalado wrote to New Times in an emailed statement. “Gonzalez was subsequently found to be illegally present in the U.S. and was transferred to U.S. Border Patrol custody at the West Palm Beach Station for removal proceedings.”
Following his detainment, Devore said, Gonzalez was held at an immigration facility in Riviera Beach before he was transferred to the state-run Alligator Alcatraz on the evening of December 13.
“It’s not pleasant, that’s for sure,” he told New Times. “I think the policy of the Trump administration is obviously, shoot first, ask questions later, and then make things as miserable for people as possible, get them to give up so they just agree to leave.”
The Palm Beach community rallied for Gonzalez’s release through a community vigil and petition. Maribel Alvarez, a Palm Beach publicist, described him as a “member” of her family and others in the community.
“I can’t imagine this gentle soul being in Alligator Alcatraz,” Alvarez previously told the Palm Beach Post . “The conditions aren’t fit for animals. It is brutal torture.”
In a Facebook post, U.S. Rep. Lois Frankel, who represents parts of Palm Beach County, called Gonzalez a “brother, uncle, business owner” and “cherished member of our Palm Beach County community for decades.”
“Last week while out on a supply run for his restaurant, ICE detained Jose and his nephew. Jose is now being held in unspeakable conditions at so-called ‘Alligator Alcatraz,'” Frankel wrote. “This isn’t going after the ‘worst of the worst,’ this is terrorizing our neighbors to meet ICE’s detention quota. My team and I are working to find more information and free Jose from ICE’s unjust detention.”
Frankel’s office didn’t respond to New Times’ request for comment.
While Gonzalez’s nephew has reportedly agreed to return to Mexico, Devore filed a habeas corpus petition, a court order requiring authorities to bring an arrested person before a judge to decide whether they can be legally detained, in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida last week on Gonzalez’s behalf.
