Time is running out for a Venezuelan migrant in Illinois who is undergoing dialysis and is in desperate need of a kidney transplant. Prior to the Trump administration's crackdown on immigration, Jose Alfredo Pacheco, along with his family and doctors, had made arrangements to get the kidney he needed to save his life. However, his donor is currently sitting in an ICE detention center and facing deportation back to Venezuela.
Pacheco's donor was supposed to be his own brother, Jose Gregorio Gonzalez, a 43-year-old migrant who arrived in the U.S. from Venezuela in light of his brother's diagnosis of end stage kidney disease in 2023. Since then Gonzalez has served as Pacheco's main caretaker, but that ended almost a month ago after he was detained.
Pacheco, 37, has to undergo dialysis sessions three times a week at 4:00 am for four hours. On March 3, when he was coming back home from one of them, his brother received him home with breakfast. After their meal, Gonzalez went outside the house, where he was met by ICE agents who detained him and took him to a detention center in Indiana, where he has been ever since.
Gonzalez applied for asylum in the U.S. But after failing an initial interview with an immigration judge, authorities issued a removal order against him. He was nevertheless allowed to remain in the country under the supervision of ICE, which is not uncommon.
The case has gained attention in the surrounding areas of Illinois, where residents have gathered to pray and provide support for the brothers. On Monday night, members of the community gathered at a vigil organized by the Resurrection Project, a city-based nonprofit group representing the brothers, to demand Gonzalez's release on humanitarian parole so he can donate a kidney to his ailing brother.
With deportation flights resuming after a brief suspension on March 8, "there is incredible urgency because Jose Gregorio could be deported at any moment," Tovia Siegel, director of organizing and leadership at the Department of Immigrant Justice at The Resurrection Project, told NBC News.
According to Siegel, ICE was able to track Gonzalez because he carried a GPS in his ankle as part of his order to be supervised. She said that Gonzalez has no criminal record and was complying with the guidelines provided in his supervision order.
"He was actually here taking care of his brother and preparing to donate his kidney," Siegel said.
Without his brother's kidney, Pacheco would likely have to wait years for a transplant, which would increase his chances of mortality.
"The waiting time on the cadaver kidney transplant waiting list for Mr. Pacheco is about 4 to 5 years old in his blood group. Unfortunately, the mortality on dialysis while waiting for kidney transplantation is extremely high," read a letter from Pacheco's doctors obtained by NBC News. "Living donor kidney transplantation ensures the highest chance of survival."
Neither ICE nor DHS have commented on the matter. For now, Gonzalez remains in the Indiana detention center, waiting to be deported.
"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," Gonzalez told Telemundo Chicago in Spanish last week in a phone call from inside the detention center.
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