“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.”
Since immigrating to the United States from Mexico at age 16, Mr. Gonzalez has worked in the restaurant business — the last two decades at Bice on Worth Avenue. He has also operated a restaurant of his own and a mobile food truck called Tacos Agave.
His face is familiar not only to the billionaires, politicians and dignitaries who flock to Palm Beach, but also to the workers who keep the daily lives of the superrich friction-free.
Members of both groups came together for prayer vigils at Via Mizner, an airy plaza on the high-end shopping district of Palm Beach, and at the Guatemalan-Maya Center in nearby Lake Worth. Those gatherings took place after local TV news outlets The Palm Beach Post and Miami New Times brought attention to Mr. Gonzalez’s plight. There was also a robust “Free José” campaign on Facebook and Instagram.
The media attention and community support set the arrest and detention of Mr. Gonzalez apart from the thousands of similar cases that have made Palm Beach County an “epicenter of ICE arrests in Florida,” according to Representative Lois Frankel, a Democrat who represents Palm Beach County. What happened to Mr. Gonzalez “is just one horror story” among many, she noted in a phone interview on Tuesday.
Unlike so many others who are swept up in the immigration sweeps, Mr. Gonzalez has long been a popular figure, known even to some of the people who have backed the policies that sent him to the remote Everglades facility, Ms. Frankel noted.
Bram Majtlis, a former chair of the Palm Beach Code Enforcement Board and a longtime friend of Mr. Gonzalez, said the resolution of the case was helped along by the fact that “so many people made noise” during the days he spent in custody.
“I am totally for, if someone is a criminal, take them out,” Mr. Majtlis added. “But José is the example of someone who does everything right — paying taxes, having the right papers, a driver’s license, a work permit.” Still, he said, “in the end, this is not just about José.”
Mr. Gonzalez’s sphere of influence included prominent members of the Palm Beach community, many of whom worked behind the scenes to secure his release.
“What I have been hearing from people in the community, most of whom are Trump supporters, is that it went too far,” said Eddie Schmidt, the owner of Table26, a restaurant in West Palm Beach. “When we’re not talking about deporting gang members, drug dealers, pedophiles but members of the community, faces we all know, it’s harder to turn your back.”
After leaving the Everglades facility, Mr. Gonzalez passed through the Krome North Service Processing Center in Miami. From there, he made his way back to Palm Beach County.
As abruptly and inexplicably as he had seemingly disappeared, Mr. Gonzalez was on his way back to Palm Beach County in time for Christmas. (He did not reply to requests for comment.)
“Jose is headed home to take the longest and best shower of his life,” Mr. Schmidt said. “We’re all thrilled, of course. But at the same time, we all know this goes so far beyond freeing someone who can get important people a table in a restaurant.”
Guy Trebay is a reporter for the Style section of The Times, writing about the intersections of style, culture, art and fashion.
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