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Style|Palm Beach Rallies Behind a Restaurant Manager Held at ‘Alligator Alcatraz’
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/23/style/jose-gonzalez-alligator-alcatraz-palm-beach.html
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After nearly two weeks in detention, José Gonzalez, the popular host of an upscale restaurant, returns home.
Dec. 23, 2025, 7:53 p.m. ET
“He is one of those people that make this small town click,” said Nelson Hammell, who runs an antiques shop in West Palm Beach, Fla.
Mr. Hammell was referring to José Gonzalez, the manager and public face of Bice Ristorante, an upscale Italian restaurant in Palm Beach, the winter home to President Trump and some of the world’s wealthiest people.
On Dec. 10, Mr. Gonzalez, 53, was stopped by Florida Highway Patrol while driving a nephew’s pickup truck. The apparent offense was having tinted car windows. Mr. Gonzalez was arrested and turned over to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
Then, as has happened to thousands of others in Florida, he was taken deep into the Everglades to the state-run immigration detention center known as Alligator Alcatraz.
On Monday, nearly two weeks after his arrest, Mr. Gonzalez was released.
Jeffrey Devore, the lawyer representing Mr. Gonzalez, said he had done nothing wrong. “He has a valid work permit and driver’s license,” Mr. Devore said, “so we hope this is the end of this.” He added that Mr. Gonzalez has “a pending asylum case,” dating to before his detention.
In a statement on Tuesday, the Department of Homeland Security said of Mr. Gonzalez: “All of his claims will be heard before an immigration judge, and he will receive full due process.”
