A Manhattan real estate broker allegedly called ICE to report that his boyfriend — an Irish national and construction executive — was undocumented in an effort to seize control of their Tribeca apartment.

The boyfriend, 46-year-old Patrick Moran, is a conservation and preservation expert who has overseen projects for New York City’s Carnegie Hall, the American Museum of Natural History, and the New York Federal Reserve. He claims the lovers’ spat stemmed from “stress” over the renovation of their $4.3 million apartment, which dragged on for more than four years.

In a lawsuit filed in Manhattan Supreme Court, Moran alleges that during one of the couple’s spats, his boyfriend, real estate broker Nicholas Kjos, called him a “fucking immigrant” and threatened to contact U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to have him deported to his native Ireland, The Independent reports.

Moran and Kjos were introduced by a mutual friend in 2005 and quickly began a romantic relationship. Kjos, who hails from San Antonio, was a former cruise ship entertainer and gave up his career at sea to pursue work as an actor-singer on Broadway. About six months later, the pair moved in together in Midtown Manhattan.

According to the lawsuit, Moran and Kjos spent holidays at Kjos’s family ranch in Texas, attended weddings, and Moran became the godfather of Kjos’s nephew. The couple also bought a Bernedoodle named Benji.

Moran, who earned more than $300,000 a year, was the “primary financial provider” for the pair, according to the complaint, while Kjos obtained his real estate license and split his time between New York and Texas. In 2015, the couple purchased a $400,000 apartment atop the Grand Hyatt Hotel in San Antonio and renovated it at Moran’s expense, the complaint says.

The complaint contends that Moran took several steps to advance Kjos’s career, including hiring a “nationally recognized website designer to create and maintain a state-of-the-art website” for him and providing a cash down payment for Kjos to buy a Range Rover, a Mercedes, and a Porsche to project the image of a broker handling multimillion-dollar properties.

Because of Moran’s immigration status, the San Antonio home was titled in Kjos’s name, though “it was understood and intended to be jointly owned and benefited from by both parties,” the lawsuit claims. In 2020, the couple purchased a three-story condo in New York City’s Tribeca neighborhood. Like the San Antonio property, it was also titled in Kjos’s name but was “acquired and renovated with the understanding that it was a joint asset for their mutual benefit,” the lawsuit says.

The renovation of the New York condo dragged on for four years, fueling repeated arguments between the couple. Moran alleges that Kjos made “derogatory remarks such as calling [Moran] a ‘fucking immigrant,'” and threatened to report him to immigration authorities. Moran initially chalked up the outburst to stress and “continued to believe in the relationship,” the lawsuit claims.

The couple eventually discussed splitting, agreeing to sell the San Antonio apartment, complete the renovations to the Tribeca condo, and sell it before parting ways, according to the complaint. In early August, Moran found a notice ordering him to vacate the condo within 10 days. He decided to fight the order in court, where Kjos’s lawyer “falsely accused him of selling methamphetamine,” the complaint alleges. Moran, who has no criminal record, denies ever selling drugs.

According to the complaint, Kjos contacted ICE to report Moran’s undocumented status, repeating the false claim that he was dealing meth — prompting eight armed ICE officers to show up at the condo to detain him.

On the morning of October 31, 2025, Kjos allegedly remotely unlocked the door using his Control4 phone app, allowing the officers inside. They took Moran into custody at gunpoint and searched the apartment for drugs, finding no contraband or evidence of drug possession.

No drug-related charges were ever filed against Moran. In his lawsuit, he claims that six months of apartment surveillance footage would show that no drugs were sold there — though Kjos has not allowed him to access the video.

Moran, who was wearing a T-shirt and sweatpants at the time of his arrest, asked to change into more appropriate clothing and to retrieve his keys, but ICE officers refused.

That afternoon, while being held at the Delaney Hall ICE facility in Newark, Moran contacted his business partner and IT administrator, giving them permission to enter the condo and retrieve his laptop and company files, “which were necessary for the continued operation of the company,” the complaint states.

When Kjos received a notification from the Control4 app that they had entered the condo, he “immediately called them up and falsely stated it was a federal crime scene and they were about to be arrested, as the police were on the way.”

After about four weeks in ICE custody, including a stint at a San Diego facility, Moran was permitted to “self-deport” to Ireland on a plane ticket purchased by his parents.

Kjos continues to have full possession of the apartment. Moran’s lawsuit seeks half of the couple’s joint assets and joint custody of their dog, Benji, through a legal remedy known as a “constructive trust,” under which a court could declare Kjos to be wrongfully holding property belonging to Moran and order its return to prevent him from being “unjustly enriched.”

Moran’s deportation comes as the Trump administration intensifies immigration enforcement — detaining individuals ahead of deportation proceedings.

Florida’s attorney general has encouraged people with undocumented exes to report them to ICE, according to USA Today. The top official at ICE’s Puerto Rico field office said investigators now receive “revenge tips” they had not previously encountered, telling NPR in June that people are turning in “a neighbor that they don’t get along with, or an ex-husband, ex-wife, ex-boyfriend, ex-girlfriend.”

Moran’s complaint alleges that Kjos’s plan to have him deported was part of a plot “intended to exploit [Moran’s] immigration status,” with the goal of “wrongfully obtain[ing] sole control, ownership, and possession of” the Tribeca condo.

“It’s a situation where I feel that ICE was weaponized against him,” Andreas Vasilatos, Moran’s attorney, told The Independent. “Almost like how the Mafia just whacks a guy [they don’t want around anymore]. But here, instead of whacking the guy, it’s, ‘I’m gonna call ICE.'”

Vasilatos acknowledged that his client — whom he calls a “super sweet guy” who “contributed to society and was a net positive” to everyone in his life — was undocumented, but argued that “to not take into consideration his contributions to America over the last 20 years makes [his deportation] particularly draconian and particularly punitive.”

Moran told The Independent he isn’t sure where things stand between him and Kjos and said he was saddened by the experience.

“I wasn’t angry,” he said. “It was just sad. I was in a relationship for 20 years with this person, and as far as I was concerned, there wasn’t going to be another person.”

Moran, who has spent more time living in the United States than in Ireland, still considers New York home and hopes to one day resume his life in America.

“I will bounce back, and that’s because America will allow me to do that,” he told The Independent. “That’s why I love it there. But… [t]here has to be something better than this. It’s not the United States that I know.”