Alex Pereira-Alves, who has lived in West Hollywood for 16 years, worked as a security guard and personal trainer. (photo courtesy of Jeff Markwardt)

A West Hollywood resident was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement authorities on Aug. 11 during a routine appearance at an immigration hearing in downtown Los Angeles.

A native of Brazil, Alex Pereira-Alves is being housed in a detention facility in Adelanto, California and is facing deportation. A judge issued a temporary hold on Pereira-Alves’s deportation on Aug. 13 until a judge holds a hearing in the case. It is unclear when a hearing or if a hearing will be held.

The city of West Hollywood on Aug. 17 condemned the Pereira-Alves’s detainment and outlined steps taken to help him return. Pereira-Alves, who has lived in West Hollywood for the last 16 years, applied for asylum in 2018 and had been going through the legal process to remain in the United States, his friend Jeff Markwardt said.

Friends of Pereira-Alves are working with an attorney to fight the pending deportation.

“He has a valid asylum case. It allows him to stay in the U.S. as long as he doesn’t commit a crime. He had to report annually from 2018 onward, and when the Trump administration came in, he had to start reporting every three months,” Markwardt said. “Then last week, an ICE agent called him on Monday and told him to go downtown on Tuesday and they took him in.”

West Hollywood Assistant City Manager Steve Campbell denounced the detention during the City Council meeting on Aug. 17.

“The city of West Hollywood strongly condemns his detention and is calling on ICE to halt any removal while his legal claims receive full and fair consideration,” Campbell said. “Mayor Heilman has connected the city with Congresswoman Laura Friedman and Senators Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff to request their intervention. We are also working to connect Mr. Pereira-Alves with available assistance and resources. The city of West Hollywood will continue to stand firmly for due process, fairness and the safety and dignity of every member of our community.”

Markwardt, who met with Pereira-Alves at the detention facility on Aug. 15, said his friend cried for the first few minutes of the visit. Pereira-Alves told him he had heard he was being deported to Guyana, and Markwardt said he later learned the deportation was to Equatorial Guinea. Pereira-Alves has no connections to either country, he added.

“The conditions in Adelanto are terrible. I feel so bad for the people who are in there,” Markwardt said. “There are water shortages and inedible food. I can’t imagine what he is going through.”

Pereira-Alves’s attorney Jane Oak is attempting to halt the deportation through a writ of habeas corpus, which would require a judge to hold a hearing to determine if the deportation is legal. Markwardt described it as a ”last ditch effort.”

“He’s been hopeful since Day One that a judge will let him stay. He’s not a criminal,” Markwardt said. “Alex is stable. He has a full-time job – a night job as a security guard – and he is a personal trainer. He has been paying rent in his apartment for 16 years and he pays all his taxes. It is unbelievable that this happened to him. We are demanding that they free Alex and allow him to go through the legal process.”

A spokesperson from the United States Department of Homeland Security provided a statement on the case.

“On Aug. 11, 2026, ICE arrested Alex Keybow Carlos Pereira Alves, an illegal alien from Brazil. Pereira-Alves lawfully entered our country on July 5, 2010, with a set time to depart before Jan. 4, 2011. He overstayed his lawful admission in violation of our nation’s immigration laws under the Obama administration. On Sept. 18, 2018, he was given a final order of removal by a Justice Department immigration judge. On Aug. 13, 2026, an activist, magistrate judge ordered his release and a stay in his removal to Equatorial Guinea. We disagree with this ruling which undermines the president’s Article II authority to determine who remains in this country.”

Friends of Pereira-Alves established a GoFundMe account for him at gofund.me/165934627.

West Hollywood resident Alex Pereira-Alves was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement authorities on Aug. 11. (photo courtesy of Jeff Markwardt)