Federal immigration agents detained a Massachusetts high school student on his way to volleyball practice, mistaking him when he drove his father’s car.
The May 31 arrest of Marcelo Gomes Da Silva, 18, has triggered protests and walkouts at Milford High School, where he is an 11th-grade student, according to the Milford Daily News, part of the USA TODAY Network.
The school had its graduation a day after Immigration and Customs Enforcement detained Gomes Da Silva while he was heading with teammates to practice. The Brazilian teen was set to perform drums in the school’s band at the June 1 graduation ceremony.
Milford High School Principal Joshua Otlin said at the graduation ceremony that the community couldn’t pretend all was well.
“There is fear and anxiety, where there should be hope and confidence,” he said on the school’s turf field. “There is wrenching despair and righteous anger, where there should be gratitude and joy.”
Instead, graduation speakers admitted to making last-minute adjustments to address the arrest of their classmate. Class President Luke Benjamin Donis, a champion wrestler, urged his fellow graduates to “give whatever time they can” to join a large rally at Milford Town Hall after the high school ceremony.
Who is Marcelo Gomes Da Silva?
Gomes Da Silva arrived in the United States legally in 2012 on a visitor’s visa that later turned into a student visa, his lawyers said. It isn’t clear when that visa expired. He has no criminal history.
He was active in his high school marching band and church band, along with excelling in school and was involved in extracurricular and faith-based activities, his immigration lawyer Robin Nice said in a statement.
Gomes Da Silva does not pose a danger to the community and isn’t a flight risk, Nice said.
He has an immigration court hearing scheduled for the afternoon of June 5, where Nice said they would request his release on bond. His lawyers planned to pursue an asylum claim for him in the United States. On June 1, federal Judge Richard Stearns of Massachusetts issued an emergency order banning ICE from transferring Gomes Da Silva out of the state for at least 72 hours.
On June 2, Milford High students staged a walkout protesting Gomes’ detention. Students left their campus wearing Brazilian flags, holding signs and a white banner reading “Free Marcelo.” Others donned white shirts inscribed with his name.
ICE: If anyone is here unlawfully ‘we’re going to arrest them’
ICE has said its agents were targeting Gomes Da Silva’s father, Joao Paulo Gomes-Pereira, who is in the country illegally from Brazil. Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons said agents targeted Gomes-Pereira with information from local enforcement due to reckless driving, speeding that topped 100 mph. But when they stopped Gomes-Pereira’s car, they arrested Gomes Da Silva.
On June 2, Patricia Hyde, acting field director for ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations’ in Boston, said they detained him because local agencies didn’t cooperate with ICE.
“When we go into the community and find others who are unlawfully here, we’re going to arrest them,” Hyde said. “He’s 18 years old and he’s illegally in this country. We had to go to Milford looking for someone else and if we come across someone else who is here illegally, we’re going to arrest them.”
Officials said Gomes Da Silva was detained as officials announced the results of “Operation Patriot,” which arrested 1,500 people across Massachusetts suspected of being in the country illegally. He will remain in ICE custody pending removal proceedings, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
Lyons said Gomes Da Silva’s father hasn’t turned himself in, although he knows he’s the target of the operation.
Reaction to the student’s detention
In a video posted to social media, U.S. Sen. Ed Markey, D-Massachusetts, said of the situation, “This isn’t about public safety. This is about cruelty and fear engendered by the Trump administration.”
Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey said the teenager’s arrest left her “outraged.”
“Yet again, local officials and law enforcement have been left in the dark with no heads-up and no answers to their questions,” she said in a statement. “I’m demanding that ICE provide immediate information about why he was arrested, where he is and how his due process is being protected.”
Nick Molinari, president of the Milford Teachers Association, said in a statement that ICE agents targeted a student in a “deliberate act of cruelty, traumatizing his family, friends and peers.”
“This is immoral, unnecessary and should be universally condemned,” he said. “We will not stand by while the rights and humanity of our students are violated.”
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: ICE detains Massachusetts student, sparking high school walkouts
