West Hollywood man detained by ICE during immigration check

WEST HOLLYWOOD, Calif. () — A longtime West Hollywood resident from Brazil was suddenly detained by ICE agents during an immigration check-in and friends fear he could be deported to Africa.

Alex Pereira-Alves, a Brazilian immigrant turned years-long WeHo resident and working as a security guard and personal trainer, is being detained at the Adelanto Detention Center — staring down the fate of swift deportation.

“At the moment he’s being shipped off to Guyana with no belongings and not his dog. His dog is the center of his life,” said Alex’s friend, Jeff Markwardt.

Clutching Alex’s beloved companion, Bella, Markwardt explains how Alex’s life as he knows it devolved quickly this week.

“On Monday he got a call from an ICE officer saying ‘you need to report Tuesday downtown’. Out of the blue, unexpected, sudden,” Markwardt said.

His attorney says Alex has been living and working in Southern California legally since 2018 when a judge granted withholding on an order of removal from the country, as long as Alex remained in good standing, as she says Alex has.

As with many immigrants, he was placed under electronic monitoring during the second Trump administration, but not due to check in again until November.

Then on Tuesday, Alex responded to his sudden summons to the federal building downtown.

“Within 5 minutes of arriving they handcuffed him and detained him and said ‘we’re removing you,’ he said ‘wait, what?’ They said ‘we know you can’t be sent to Brazil, but we found Guyana who’s willing to take you,” immigration attorney Jane Oaks said.

“He was terrified. I’ve never heard him crying, bawling. He was saying ‘they’re going to kill me,’ Markwardt said.

Now friends and Alex’s attorney say he was denied due process and are asking for an emergency intervention from a judge.

“That is why we have a basis for this habeus corpus position, it is because it was done without proper notice. He had a scheduled appointment for November 18 and then all the sudden calling and telling him to come the next morning only to take you without any preparation,” Oaks said.