ICE detained a Mass. man with no criminal record — and sent him to Texas

Federal immigration police last week detained a Brazilian man living in Marlborough, Mass., and in a surprise move, swiftly transported him to a Texas facility. Attorneys say the transfer indicates he is being tracked for deportation, despite entering the U.S. legally and possessing no criminal record.

Lucas Dos Santos Amaral is now listed at the Karnes County Immigration Processing Center in Karnes City, about 50 miles southeast of San Antonio, according to an online detainee locator run by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Just days ago, Amaral was being held at the Plymouth County jail, on an ICE detainer.

Amaral's immigration lawyer, Eloa Celedon, said she was shocked by the suddenness of the transfer. Amaral is 29, married with a child and has a painting business, according to his wife. His lawyer said he came to the U.S. legally seven years ago, but his tourist visa had expired.

"He has no crimes committed, he's just an overstay, he entered with inspection, he has family members that are citizens," she said. Typically, a person in these circumstances would be released on bond, she said: "In all the years that I've been practicing law, he is the ideal candidate, so I was very upset to see that they would transfer him."

Celedon said even the ICE agent she contacted in Boston appeared surprised that Amaral was being transferred, "so it must have been a call from the higher ups."

The Trump administration has vowed to conduct mass deportations, starting with immigrants charged with crimes. But Amaral is an example of ICE apparently targeting non-criminals as well.

State Sen. Jamie Eldridge, who represents the Marlborough area west of Boston, told reporters last week about Amaral being picked up by ICE. Amaral had been driving to work on the morning of Jan. 27 when he was pulled over. Agents were in the area looking for another person, according to Eldridge, but detained Amaral when they learned his legal status had expired.

ICE has not yet provided details following WBUR's inquiries about the case. The Marlborough Police Department told WBUR it had no police record on Amaral.

"They're treating him like a criminal," Celedon said. "They're treating him like someone who has an order for deportation."

The case shows the legal black hole that immigrants can find themselves in when detained by ICE. Not only was Amaral's own lawyer surprised to learn he had been moved to Texas, but the Plymouth County jail system did not immediately reflect the change. On Wednesday, Karen Barry, a spokeswoman for the Plymouth County Sheriff’s Office, said the jail’s system still reflected Amaral being in Plymouth. She told a reporter to rely on the ICE information instead, and referred further questions to the federal authorities.

The legal path to helping Amaral is now murky. His lawyer sought a habeas corpus order in federal court in Boston to stop Plymouth from allowing him to be moved. U.S. District Judge Denise Casper issued an order Feb. 5 for officials not to transport Amaral from the state without giving the court 48-hours notice, but it appears he had already been moved.

Celedon said she also has filed a motion in immigration court to oppose the transfer of Amaral's docket to Texas. She said a bond hearing is scheduled in that court, in Chelmsford, for Feb. 13. " I want him back in Massachusetts," she said.

Desmond FitzGerald, a longtime immigration attorney in Boston, said the transfer of ICE detainees to Texas was common under the first Trump administration and likely indicates plans for deportation.

"If you take someone and you move them far from their community, from their family, from the resources that they may have, you isolate them in a strange place," he said, "you have just reduced the likelihood that they'll be able to stay here."

Amaral’s wife, Suyanne, told WBUR the couple has a 3-year-old daughter and baby on the way. She said her husband's income supports the family.

Eldridge, the state senator, said he was “heartbroken and outraged” upon learning from WBUR that Amaral had been taken to Texas. He added that he’s  ”extremely concerned that things are going to get worse” for immigrants under the Trump administration.

“This is increasingly going to be the profile of the individuals who get arrested,” Eldridge said. “That’s not only horrific for the family, but also a detriment to the commonwealth.”