Gonzalez

“In our pickup games, I always tried to choose Javier for my team because he was a relentless competitor, a true winner, and he now runs Pizza Al Fresco to the same very high standard,” Desmond wrote in the 2011 column. “Good food and good friends, together they’re an unbeatable combination.”

Gonzalez’s plight has drawn significant local attention and scrutiny since com- ing to light late this past week. Thousands of area residents have signed an online petition in a case in which the policies of parttime Palm Beach resident Trump are striking very close to home.

In fact, earlier this spring, Gonzalez lauded the bene- fits of the “Trump effect” on Palm Beach’s business community.

“For us, it’s been great,” Gonzalez told the Tampa Bay Times. “People really want to come to Palm Beach to see the scene.”

Gonzalez, who was born in Mexico but has lived in the U.S. since he was 15 years old, is scheduled to check in with Immigration and Cus- toms Enforcement officers in Broward County on Friday — an appointment where he has been told he could face the risk of deportation under Trump’s new immi- gration policy.

Gonzalez has no criminal record, a U.S. citizen spouse and three U.S.-born daugh- ters. His attorney, Richard Hujber, has argued that if Gonzalez is deported, his wife and children would likely move to Mexico to keep the close-knit family together. The move could put the girls, ages 5, 7, and 10, at risk, Hujber said Friday.

Desmond, the son of Trump’s sister, federal Judge Maryanne Trump Barry, could not be reached for comment this week. He sold his Palm Beach home, which backed up to a parking lot for the Mar-a-Lago Club, in 2015.

Before moving, Desmond, a neuropsychologist, wrote a humor column called “The Rich Life” for the Palm Beach Daily News. He has published two novels set in Palm Beach.

In the 2011 column, Desmond said he joined the pickup game in 2003 after learning about it from a restaurateur.

“As months and then years passed, players moved in and out of the game, but I came to know a core group very well and looked forward to seeing them every Sunday,” Desmond wrote. “I was surprised to discover that many of them worked in restaurants both on and off the island, and they often showed up just a bit the worse for wear after work- ing a long Saturday night shift.”

Town officials eventually booted the group from the public field, and the weekly game was moved to a facil- ity in West Palm Beach. But the “family atmosphere was never the same,” Desmond wrote.

“I miss tho s e Sunday morning soccer games, but I miss my fellow players even more because it’s all-too-rare that such a disparate group of people would ever find themselves choosing to be together,” he wrote.

Since information about Gonzalez’s case was made public this past week, dozens of high-profile Palm Beach County residents — including some of Palm Beach’s most elite socialites, have shown support for him. An online petition started by Gonzalez on Thursday has nearly 6,000 signatures.

On Sunday, the former

of Apple and Pepsi-Cola, John Sculley, and his wife, Diane, used their Twitter account to share the Change. org petition.

Gonzalez said that he is grateful for the support but declined to comment further about the case.

Gonzalez’s case is compli- cated. He came to the U.S. to live with his brother when he was 15 years old using what he thought was a valid visa. After high school, he returned to Mexico to visit family members. When he came back to the U.S., he was told at the airport that his visa was not valid. He was deported and ordered not to return for a 5-year period.

Gonzalez didn’t wait. He crossed the border illegally.

Under the Obama administration, Gonzalez was granted an Administrative Stay of Deportation or Removal, which required him to check in at the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in Broward County once a year.

Until this year, the annual check-in has been little more than a routine measure for Gonzalez.

But during a check-in earlier this year, Gonzalez was told he would have to return to the Broward County ICE office in three months for another check-in, at which point he could face deportation. His next check-in is set for this Friday.

In an emailed statement Friday, ICE pointed to Gonzalez’s 2001 deportation, saying those in violation of U.S. immigration laws are subject to detention and deportation.

“Francisco Javier Gonzalez was removed from the country on December 14, 2001 and subsequently re-entered the country illegally,” ICE said. “As (Homeland Security) Secretary ( John) Kelly has made clear, ICE will no longer exempt classes or categories of removable aliens from potential enforcement. All of those in violation of the immigration laws may be subject to immigration arrest, detention and, if found removable by final order, removal from the United States.”