ICE arrest of Massachusetts high school student sends shockwaves through town

An athlete, a musician, an exceptional high school student with an infectious smile.

This is how community members in Milford, Massachusetts, described Marcelo Gomes Da Silva, an 18-year-old high school junior who was arrested by immigration authorities and sent to a detention center this weekend.

Gomes Da Silva was driving his father’s car on his way to volleyball practice with some of his teammates Saturday morning when immigration authorities stopped him.

Immigration authorities made the traffic stop because they were looking for Gomes Da Silva’s father, who is unlawfully present in the country, according to Todd Lyons, acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

After learning Gomes Da Silva was also unlawfully present in the U.S., ICE officers took him into custody, Lyons said Monday at a news conference.

Gomes Da Silva was born in Brazil but has attended Milford Public Schools since he was 6 years old, friends said.

Though “he was not the target of the investigation,” he was arrested during a monthlong immigration enforcement operation in Massachusetts that has resulted in the arrests of nearly 1,500 immigrants, Boston’s ICE Field Officer Patricia H. Hyde said at the news conference.

“When we go out into the community and we find others who are unlawfully here, we are going to arrest them,” Hyde said. “We’ve been completely transparent with that.”

Hyde said Gomes Da Silva remains in ICE custody as of Monday morning.

In addition to Gomes Da Silva, a number of parents and school community members have been detained by ICE in recent weeks, according to Kevin McIntyre, superintendent of Milford Public Schools.

“We are all distraught by this news,” McIntyre told NBC Boston in a statement, adding that Milford Public Schools plays no part in immigration enforcement and supports all students and their families, including those who are immigrants.

“They are members of the community, students in our classrooms, athletes that compete representing Milford, musicians, artists, friends and neighbors,” the superintendent continued. “We will do everything in our power to support our students and families during these difficult times.”

A teammate of Gomes Da Silva who was in the car when they were pulled over by four vehicles and witnessed the ICE arrest Saturday texted their high school volleyball coach at around 8:30 a.m.

“I was sitting there thinking, ‘This can’t be happening,’” Andrew Mainini, the volleyball coach, told NBC Boston. “It’s one thing to see things happening in the world. It’s another to have them directly impact the people you work with and care for on a daily basis.”

‘Free Marcelo’

Gomes Da Silva was supposed to play the drums at his girlfriend’s high school graduation on Sunday. His absence was palpable during Milford High School’s commencement as his bandmates performed without him, sparking a post-graduation protest demanding his release.

Hundreds of students still in their graduation gowns, teachers, relatives and other community members marched a mile to Milford Town Hall following the commencement ceremony — holding signs and chanting “Free Marcelo.”

Julianys Rentas Figueroa, Gomes Da Silva’s girlfriend, said she spoke with him on the phone after he was detained Saturday. He told her immigration authorities “put chains around his ankles, on his wrists,” Rentas Figueroa, still in her red graduation gown, told NBC Boston Sunday. “I haven’t spoken to him since then. I don’t know how he’s doing.”

“I don’t understand why Marcelo was targeted. He’s been in Milford all his life,” Rentas Figueroa said.

Rentas Figueroa said Gomes Da Silva was transferred into two different holding facilities in Massachusetts over the weekend.

Diego Low, director of Metrowest Worker Center, an immigration advocacy group in Massachusetts, told NBC News that cousins of Gomes Da Silva had contacted the center after his detention.

“We are trying to support him,” Low said, adding that immigration attorneys are interceding on the family’s behalf to prevent Gomes Da Silva from being transferred to a detention center in another state.

Ana Julia Araujo, Gomes Da Silva’s cousin, said the 18-year-old’s younger siblings are questioning if they will ever him again.

Milford police said it was not involved, claiming ICE did not notify the department of the arrest.

“Marcelo is somebody that we don’t know. So, what does that tell you? If I don’t know you, if my officers don’t know you, there’s a reason we don’t know you. It’s because you’re probably not a troublemaker,” Chief Robert Tusino told NBC Boston.

Gov. Maura Healey said in a statement over the weekend that she is “disturbed and outraged” by Gomes Da Silva’s detention, adding that arrests like these are “making us all less safe.”

During Sunday’s protest, a friend of Gomes Da Silva who participated in the march told NBC Boston, “I am disgusted that I have to deal with this on graduation and see one of my greatest friends be taken away for no reason.”

“I just pray that we can make a difference because this is so depressing,” the girl, who was not named, said in tears.