This week, a flight carrying deportees from the US is expected to arrive in Costa Rica, another Central American country that has agreed with Washington to become a "bridge" nation for deportees.
"It's been the talk of Holywood," she said."I definitely thought he had a chance. He's put the work in throughout the years and he's done absolutely fantastic.
"He really represents Holywood very well."TV and film writer Declan Lawn was on his way to edit the latest series of Blue Lights in Holywood when he bumped into BBC News NI.He stayed up "into the wee hours" to watch McIlroy.
"It was worth every second," he said. "It's one of the greatest sporting stories ever in history."He was fighting his demons, and fighting the past and fighting himself and he didn't do it perfectly. He had to find courage to come back and he did. It's such a human story, a Hollywood ending."
Fellow Northern Irish sporting hero Lady Mary Peters said she was absolutely overjoyed at McIlroy's success.
"He has been so close in the past and didn't quite make it but this was his right time to do it," she said."We heard that ICE came to a building not far from me," said Carlos, whose son is a US citizen born in New York.
Like Gabriela, Carlos was initially cautiously optimistic about Trump's electoral win and thought he would indirectly benefit from Trump's promises to boost the economy and lower inflation."It's scary. I've been avoiding being out on the street more than I need to," he added. "I don't have a problem with criminals being arrested. But we keep hearing that other people - workers - are also being taken away."
Both Gabriela and Carlos asked to be identified only by their first names, fearing retribution or attention from authorities.It is unclear how many of those arrested have criminal histories and how many are what have been what the first Trump administration termed "collateral" arrests.