CHELMSFORD, Mass. (AP) — An immigration judge on Thursday granted bond to a Massachusetts high school student who was arrested on his way to a volleyball practice last weekend.
Marcelo Gomes da Silva, 18, who came to the U.S. from Brazil at age 7, was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents Saturday. Authorities have said the agents were looking for the Milford High School teenager's father, who owns the car Gomes da Silva was driving at the time and had parked in a friend's driveway.
“This kid is as clean as a whistle,” his lawyer, Robin Nice, told reporters after a hearing in Chelmsford. Gomes da Silva, who was expected to be released Thursday afternoon on $2,000 bond, appeared via video from elsewhere in Massachusetts.
She said Gomes da Silva slept on the cement floor of a room with 25 to 35 men most of the time he was detained with no windows, no time outside and no permission to shower.
"He’s looking forward to eating Snickers and chicken nuggets when he is released," she said.
U.S. Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said earlier this week that ICE officers were targeting a "known public safety threat and that Gomes da Silva’s father “has a habit of reckless driving at speeds in excess of 100 miles per hour through residential areas.”
“While ICE officers never intended to apprehend Gomes da Silva, he was found to be in the United States illegally and subject to removal proceedings, so officers made the arrest,” she said in a statement.
Gomes da Silva initially entered the country on a visitor visa and was later issued a student visa that has since lapsed, Nice said. She described him as deeply rooted in his community and a dedicated member of both the school marching band and a band at his church.
A federal judge considering Gomes da Silva’s request to be released while his immigration case proceeds has given the government until June 16 to respond and has ordered that Gomes da Silva not be moved out of Massachusetts without 48 hours’ notice given to the court. The government sought permission Wednesday to move Gomes da Silva to a detention facility in a different New England state, Nice said, a move his lawyers opposed because they feared it would delay the immigration hearing. A judge quickly denied the request.
“I love my son. We need Marcelo back home. It’s no family without him,” João Paulo Gomes Pereira said in a video released Wednesday by his son’s attorney. “We love America. Please, bring my son back.”
Students at Milford High staged a walkout Monday to protest his detainment. Other supporters wore white and packed the stands of the high school gymnasium Tuesday night, when the volleyball team dedicated a match to their missing teammate.
The immigration judge set a placeholder hearing date for a couple of weeks from Thursday, but it might take place months from that, Nice said.
“We’re optimistic that he’ll have a future in the United States,” she said.
Associated Press reporter Kathy McCormack in Concord, New Hampshire, contributed to this story.