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…