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A Boston high school student who was detained by immigration agents on Saturday while he was on his way to volleyball practice must be kept in Massachusetts for at least 72 hours, a federal judge said on Monday.
Marcelo Gomes Da Silva, 18, entered the United States on a student visa, according to a lawsuit filed on his behalf after his arrest. While his student visa status has lapsed, he is eligible for and intends to apply for asylum.
US district judge Richard Stearns ordered the 72-hour stay on Monday to “provide a fair opportunity for the judge who will be randomly assigned to this case” to review merits and rule on any contested issues.
Nonetheless, the head of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) on Monday defended his agency’s actions, saying the teen in question was “in this country illegally and we’re not going to walk away from anybody”. Gomes’s attorney asked for his immediate release.
Attorney Miriam Conrad, in a filing on Sunday, said that Gomes “has no criminal history anywhere in the world” in asking for his release.
Gomes was arrested on Saturday in Milford, Massachusetts, where he lives.
Ice’s acting director, Todd Lyons, and Patricia Hyde – who directs the agency’s enforcement and removal operations in Boston – acknowledged Gomes was not the target of the immigration investigation that led to his arrest and that authorities instead were seeking his father, who remains at large.
But the Milford high school student had been driving his father’s vehicle when he was arrested following a traffic stop, Lyons said. Lyons said that when authorities encounter someone in the country illegally, “we will take action on that”.
“We’re doing the job that Ice should have been doing all along,” he said. “We enforce all immigration laws.”
The state’s Democratic governor, Maura Healey, said she was “disturbed and outraged” by Gomes’s arrest. And hundreds rallied in Milford on Sunday to protest against Gomes’s detention.
A federal judge issued an emergency order on Sunday preventing authorities from transferring Gomes out of Massachusetts for at least 72 hours in response to his lawsuit arguing that he was unlawfully detained.
Reuters contributed to this report
