{"id":472818,"date":"2026-09-23T07:18:08","date_gmt":"2026-09-23T07:18:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/472818\/"},"modified":"2026-09-23T07:18:08","modified_gmt":"2026-09-23T07:18:08","slug":"brazilian-immigrant-alex-pereira-alves-of-west-hollywood-remains-in-limbo-6-weeks-after-detention-during-ice-check-in","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/472818\/","title":{"rendered":"Brazilian immigrant Alex Pereira-Alves of West Hollywood remains in limbo 6 weeks after detention during ICE check-in"},"content":{"rendered":"

WEST HOLLYWOOD, Calif. (KABC) — A Brazilian immigrant who has lived in West Hollywood for nearly a decade is facing potential deportation to a country he has no connection to. He spoke with Eyewitness News after more than a month in custody as his legal fight marches on.<\/p>\n

Alex Pereira-Alves has spent six weeks at the Adelanto Detention Center after reporting for what was described as a spontaneous immigration check-in<\/a> at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in downtown Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

During a video call last week, on his 34th day in detention, Pereira-Alves described feeling cut off from the outside world.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel trapped,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Pereira-Alves, a legal Brazilian immigrant, reported to the ICE facility on Aug. 11. He said an official told him he could be deported under the current administration.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of them said, \u2018Under this administration you are deportable.\u2019 Then I said, \u2018I can just buy my ticket and leave and go to Brazil, my country,\u2019\u201d Pereira-Alves said. \u201cHe said, \u2018No, now we have to process you through the system.\u2019 Then they handcuffed me, and the rest is history.\u201d<\/p>\n

The case became more complicated when Pereira-Alves faced the possibility of swift deportation to Equatorial Guinea. His immigration attorney, Jane Oak, immediately sought legal intervention.<\/p>\n

SEE ALSO: Federal judge blocks deportation of West Hollywood man detained by ICE during immigration check-in<\/a><\/p>\n

A federal judge is temporarily blocking the deportation of a longtime West Hollywood resident detained by ICE agents this week.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe, with that injunction, that is what prevented him from getting removed to Equatorial Guinea,\u201d Oak said.<\/p>\n

Oak said Pereira-Alves has lived and worked legally in West Hollywood since 2018, when a judge granted a legal withholding on an order of removal from the country, as long as Pereira-Alves remained in good standing. Oak said Pereira-Alves has met that requirement.<\/p>\n

The 2018 withholding that then allowed Pereira-Alves to stay and spared him from deportation back to Brazil is now trapping him in an immigration quagmire.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe can\u2019t get removed to Brazil, because the withholding of removal prevents that. He does not want to go to Equatorial Guinea, and he can\u2019t designate a third country and he can\u2019t be released from detention either,\u201d Oak said.<\/p>\n

Pereira-Alves\u2019 phone calls and legal filings are costing his friends who support him thousands of dollars. His continued detention also comes at a cost to taxpayers, said his friend Jeff Markwardt.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything costs money, and as taxpayers, we\u2019re footing his bill,\u201d Markwardt said.<\/p>\n

Markwardt said Pereira-Alves is fortunate to have people helping him, while many others in detention do not have the same resources.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlex is lucky to have the support around him, but a lot of these folks are the most low-income, disadvantaged folks in our society,\u201d he said. \u201cEven if they do have someone on the outside, do those people have the funds to contribute?\u201d<\/p>\n

Pereira-Alves remains in detention in limbo while his attorney navigates a federal immigration and court process that she says is overloaded and appears to be changing daily.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t really feel safe,\u201d Pereira-Alves said. \u201cI will probably only feel safe when I arrive in my country.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a statement last month, confirming Pereira-Alves’ detention and pending deportation, a spokesperson with the Department of Homeland Security said that detention is a choice and further encouraged people to self-deport. Pereira-Alves offered up that option, but says he was denied and forced into custody.<\/p>\n

Eyewitness News reached out to DHS for an updated statement on his case but has yet to hear back.<\/p>\n

Copyright \u00a9 2026 KABC Television, LLC. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WEST HOLLYWOOD, Calif. (KABC) — A Brazilian immigrant who has lived in West Hollywood for nearly a decade…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":472819,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[185975,48,52,51,47,50,49],"class_list":["post-472818","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-185975","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/472818","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=472818"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/472818\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/472819"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=472818"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=472818"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=472818"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}