Luis Fernandez, the longtime waiter at the Square Diner who was arrested  by ICE in last summer, has self-deported back to his home country of Ecuador. Tribecan Kris Brown, who first took notice of Luis’ plight and has been tracking the case for the past year, wrote this week to say that Luis is with his mother and doing well.

Luis was in a detention facility in Texas until three weeks ago when he self-deported. (I will note that it costs at least $125 a day to keep people in federal detention centers.)

At one point a GoFundMe account started by one of his fellow waiters at the diner had raised $21,000 largely due to local contributions. A small portion of it went to legal fees (Kris and other local lawyers worked very hard to get him pro-bono representation) and the rest went to his family on Long Island.

“I spoke with his daughter recently and she said they are doing ok financially,” Kris said. “I offered to send money but she said she appreciated it but they were ok.”

Luis was arrested by ICE in June 2025 after reporting — as requested by the agency — to an immigration office on Long Island. He left behind his wife and two US-born children.

At the time, the press office for ICE responded to my questions about his case with the following statement:

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested Luis Florencio Fernandez Palaguachi, 50, of Ecuador, on June 24, on Long Island, New York. Fernandez Palaguachi is an illegal alien with two prior convictions from 2003 and 2014. He is currently being held in ICE custody.

The agency added that he entered the US on an unknown date before September 18, 2001.