Milford High student released from ICE detention, and congressmen tour controversial Burlington facility

A Milford High School student who was detained by federal immigration officials over the weekend is free after a federal judge ordered his release Thursday.

Marcelo Gomes Da Silva had been held since he was arrested Saturday on his way to volleyball practice. ICE agents said they had been looking for his father when they stopped him.

A judge in Chelmsford's immigration court ordered the 18-year-old's release on $2,000 bond.

Gomes Da Silva appeared at a press conference with his lawyer Thursday evening, flanked by U.S. Reps. Seth Moulton and Jake Auchincloss, who lauded his handling of a stressful detention with dignity.

The teen described having to stay in the Burlington office facility for six days, sleeping on a concrete floor with a mylar blanket, in an open room with a toilet and no privacy.

The detainees weren't permitted to go outside or see daylight, he said; so he prayed a lot.

"The only chance we get to breathe is when they open that little gap and some cold air comes in," he said.

Gomes Da Silva also stood up for his father, whom authorities said they'd been seeking: "I heard a lot of people talk bad about my Dad," he said. "Everything I got was from my Dad. He's a good person. He never did anything wrong."

Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons this week said the father "isn't father of the year because he brought his son up here illegally."

Gomes Da Silva said his dad taught him to put other people first.

"I told every single inmate down there, 'When I'm out, if I'm the only one able to leave that place, I lost.' Because I want to do whatever I can to get them as much help as possible."

He said many of the men he was held with have children at home, and many were picked up on their way to work.

"If they have to be deported so be it, but in the right way, in the right conditions," he said.

Moulton called the teen "a great American." He said, "Marcelo in just five, 10 minutes, has done more to demonstrate and uphold American values than the Trump administration ever dreams of doing."

Auchincloss said the Trump administration, with a series of chaotic arrests of people without criminal records, is "upending law and order. He's making communities feel less safe."

Both congressmen said anyone in the country has a right to due process.

They knocked on the doors of the Burlington ICE facility, which closed for the day at 4 p.m., until they were let in. The representatives told WBUR they were seeking a tour of the facility.

Dozens of other people were being held there in recent days, in similarly grim conditions, according to lawyers with clients there.

Gomes Da Silva was 6 years old when came to the U.S. from Brazil on a student visa, which later expired. In an interview on WBUR's All Things Considered, his attorney, Robin Nice, described Gomes Da Silva as a studious athlete and band member.

Nice told a crush of reporters after the hearing Thursday that Gomes Da Silva should never have been arrested.

“This kid had no criminal record, so don’t talk to me about only arresting criminals,” she said, saying he's one of many "victims of this ramped-up, irrational immigration campaign."

Luciano Alves is a family friend who came from Milford to show his support for Gomes outside the courthouse: “I feel very bad about what happened to Marcelo, an 18-year-old kid, he has no criminal record, he plays sports, he’s an evangelical,” Alves said in Portuguese. “Everyone, everyone, everyone at school loves him.”

In light of the arrest — and the recent surge in immigration enforcement across Massachusetts — Alves said he regrets having voted for Donald Trump.

“In his campaign he was saying that he would only arrest criminals,” Alves said. “That’s not happening. [ICE] even stopped me on Monday. I don’t know why, because of my race? My work? I don’t know.”

Gomes Da Silva's parents and siblings had posted an emotional video Wednesday, pleading for his release.

"We love America. Please bring my son back," his father, João Paulo Gomes-Pereira, said.

Also in Chelmsford immigration court Thursday, Rosane Ferreira De Oliveira, of Worcester, was given a new hearing date of Sept. 23. She was arrested in a chaotic scene on May 8 in Worcester, when more than two dozen people surrounded federal agents, trying to prevent the arrest. Two people were arrested.

She was separately charged with assaulting her 16-year-old daughter in an incident in February. Ferreira De Oliveira is being held at the Wyatt Detention Facility in Rhode Island.