A Westside father who was arrested by immigration officials outside an East Price Hill Kroger has opted to return to Guatemala voluntarily rather than remain in detention at the Butler County Jail.
Alonzo Tomas Mendez was one of four men arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers in the Warsaw Avenue Kroger parking lot on May 31. On Wednesday, an immigration judge granted a voluntary departure request for Mendez after he was denied bond on July 23, according to immigration advocates at Ignite Peace Cincinnati.
Samantha Searls, program director at Ignite Peace, pointed to a July 8 memo issued by ICE that states immigrants must remain in detention for the duration of their case.
“It’s absolutely inhumane to keep innocent people locked up without the chance of bond,” said Searls. “Immigration cases can take months and often years to resolve — can you imagine a person who’s never committed a crime in their life being held in the harsh conditions of a jail for an indiscriminate amount of time? Jails like the Butler County Jail are not set up to hold people for long periods of time — they’re meant to hold folks temporarily until they are granted bond, a trial, or sentenced and transferred to other facilities. Jails are not meant to care for innocent immigrant families.”
CityBeat learned in previous reporting that Mendez had stopped at the Warsaw Avenue Kroger to pick up supplies for a birthday party they were heading to that day. Mendez, who has no criminal record, was confronted by agents in the parking lot while his wife and children waited in the car.
“He’s a church man, he’s a good man, he’s a simple, humble man who I’ve known because of the community,” Walter Vasquez, director of Hispanic/Latino outreach for Bloc Ministries, told CityBeat soon after the arrest. Vasquez witnessed Mendez’ arrest and helped his family in the aftermath. “It’s a scary scenario for this family to now be separated, but not know what’s going to happen.”
Searls said voluntary departure would make it easier for Mendez to return to the U.S. in the future, whereas deportation under a final court order comes with a 10-year ban from re-entering the country. It’s unclear if his wife and two daughters will be staying in the country when he leaves.
A press release from Ignite Peace describes Mendez’ decision to voluntarily return to Guatemala as “prayerful.”
“Alonzo is a man of peace, who has never done any harm,” said Joshua Heizer of Latino Allies. ” He was a valued member of our community and I only wish there were a path for him to remain.”
East Price Hill is a neighborhood dense with immigrant families, especially from Guatemala. The May 31 arrests caused a noticeable dip in attendance among immigrant-owned and ran businesses in the area. With the help of a translator from the Cincinnati Language Services Cooperative, CityBeat spoke with business owners along Warsaw Avenue in the days after the arrests.
The businesses were different — a barber shop, a restaurant, two grocery stores — but the message was the same: anxiety is high and business is down. Read the full story here.
Related
Welcome to the ICE Age: Economic Impacts of Immigrant Arrests Felt by East Price Hill Small Businesses
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This article appears in Jul 23 – Aug 5, 2025.
