Mexican tourist, brother detained in Alligator Alcatraz now back in Mexico

Natalia Jaramillo, Orlando Sentinel on Jul 28, 2025

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ORLANDO, Fla. — Two brothers detained at Alligator Alcatraz, including a Mexican citizen vacationing in Orlando on a valid tourist visa, are now back home in Mexico City, their father said at a news conference Monday.

The brothers were transported from the center in the Everglades to a detention center in Miami and then to another in Brownsville, Texas, on the border of Mexico before they ended up back in their native country, Martin Gonzalez said. The multiday process was “traumatizing” for his sons, he added.

The brothers’ detention become an international incident when made public last week, with the Mexican Consulate issuing a warning to its citizens about visiting Orlando and Mexico’s president demanding they be returned home “immediately” after a traffic stop in Orlando led to their arrest.

On the day they learned they would be transferred out of Alligator Alcatraz — Florida’s new immigration detention facility that opened last month — a federal official told the brothers, “your case made national news, so we’re going to let you go,” said their lawyer, Andrea Reyes, who also spoke at the news conference.

Carlos Martin Gonzalez had a valid tourist visa and a ticket to fly home on July 15, his father said, so should not have been detained during the July 7 stop in Orlando. His older brother, Oscar Alejandro Gonzalez, arrived on a tourist visa in late 2024 but then stayed, Reyes conceded.

The brothers were shackled for the majority of their transport back to Mexico, a trek that began on July 24 and lasted until they finally crossed the border on July 27 in a van, alongside more than a dozen other Mexican detainees, Reyes said.

At one point during the transport the brothers were shackled for more than 10 hours, she said.

“From around 12 p.m. to 11 p.m. at night my clients were handcuffed and apparently Alligator Alcatraz has a unique handcuff procedure where not only are they handcuffing them on their hands, and then tying that to their feet, but then they’re also handcuffing that combination to a hook that’s on the cement floor so they cannot move,” Reyes said. “They were fed food but their handcuffs were not released so they had to basically eat standing up and uncomfortable.”

The circumstances of the brothers’ arrest are still not fully clear and are only partly described in documents. But those documents are incorrect, Reyes claimed.

“I got a lot of information that is not consistent with what is in the police report, which is not surprising,” Reyes said.

On July 7, Carlos, 26, was driving at the intersection of Hughey Avenue and Robinson Street in Orlando when he was pulled over by the Florida Highway Patrol for having tinted windows, according to an arrest affidavit.

A trooper ran the Mexican license plate and found the car had no valid registration in the United States or Mexico, the report said. Carlos told the trooper his older brother, 31-year-old Oscar Alejandro Gonzalez, had the registration documents.

Oscar arrived with a car title, but it did not have either brother’s name on it, FHP said. Carlos was arrested for driving an unregistered car and taken to Orange County jail, the report said. The Orlando Sentinel could not find any arrest records for Oscar Gonzalez, but their father said both his sons were detained that day after the traffic stop.

Arrests for minor traffic infractions are how many immigrants in Central Florida end up in custody as the Trump administration cracks down on undocumented migrants, the Orlando Sentinel reported.

But Reyes said her clients did not understand English, and officers at the scene did not speak Spanish well, so there was miscommunication. She said FHP asked for Carlos to call his brother to come to the stop, disputing the report that says Carlos called his brother. The car was registered under the name of Oscar’s wife, who is a U.S. citizen, she said.

Reyes said she still does not know why Oscar was arrested.

Carlos was here on a valid I-94, also known as the arrival/departure record that is issued by U.S. Customs and Border Protection and serves as proof of legal entry and authorized stay in the country, Reyes said. The form stated Carlos was able to stay in the U.S. for six months, which would have expired on Aug. 15.

However, Oscar did overstay his tourist visa after arriving in November 2024, she said.

Martin Gonzalez said his sons are now resting at home in Mexico after enduring a “treatment that not even an animal should endure,” at Alligator Alcatraz, he said.

Martin Gonzalez said he will leave Orlando and head back to Mexico to be with his sons as soon as possible.

“I have always respected the laws and have come to the U.S. many times and was well received as a visitor ... but honestly now it is scary to come,” Martin Gonzalez said. “This situation has caused a lot of trauma.”

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