Feds: Teen detained by ICE in Milford was driving car of father, the initial target
The Milford High School teenager detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents over the weekend was not the initial target of federal agents, according to federal officials.
It was the boy's father whom the agents were after, officials said.
That information was shared during a joint press conference by ICE and the U.S. Attorney's Office in Boston Monday, June 2.
Marcelo Gomes Da Silva, 18, was taken by ICE agents Saturday, May 31 while driving to a volleyball practice at Milford High School. A large rally held Sunday, June 1 outside Milford Town Hall condemned ICE and demanded Da Silva's release.
Da Silva was driving his father's car at the time of his apprehension, according to ICE officials at the press conference.
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ICE targeted the father with intelligence provided from local law enforcement, according to acting ICE Director Todd Lyons. However, since Da Silva was in the country illegally and was driving his father's car, he was detained, according to officials.
Hours after the press conference, the Telegram & Gazette received an email from ICE that said 38-year-old Joao Paulo Gomes-Pereira, the teenager's father, was in the country illegally from Brazil. The email added that ICE was notified by local authorities that Gomes-Pereira had a history of reckless driving at speeds that topped 100 mph that endangered residents.
Online records for Worcester and Milford District Courts show no pending criminal cases against Gomes-Pereira. He was charged with license revocation and failing to execute a proper vehicle stop/yield in July 2023. Judge Richard Eustis dismissed the charges in November 2023, and Gomes-Pereira paid a $100 fine.
May 31, federal agents stopped the car with the intention of apprehending the father, according to ICE.
"While ICE officers never intended to apprehend, Gomes-DaSilva, he was found to be in the United States illegally and subject to removal proceedings, so officers made the arrest. Gomes-DaSilva remains in ICE custody pending removal proceedings," reads the email.
When asked if local police had fed information to ICE about Gomes-Pereira, Milford Police Chief Robert Tusino said that when it comes to criminal investigations, detectives in his department work with a joint task force that includes ICE, the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives on open and active investigations.
Tusino declined to comment on who might be the focus of a criminal investigation, but said it has nothing to do with Marcelo Gomes Da Silva.
During a stop in Charlton June 3 to mark the grand opening an an Amazon facility, Gov. Maura T. Healey was asked if it would have ben appropriate for local authorities to supply information about Gomes-Pereira to ICE. She responded that the father doesn't have a criminal background and his son shouldn't be detained.
"What happened with the dad has nothing to do with holding onto this young man," said Healey. "He did nothing wrong."
Healey also said Massachusetts consistently cooperates with federal officials including ICE in the investigation of crimes. "The attorney general and I, as governor, support this."
She also chastised federal agents for "scaring communities, instilling fear and anxiety, and people are afraid to go to court as witnesses. People are afraid to go to school, afraid to go to work."
Meanwhile, some Milford students walked out of school June 2 to protest Da Silva's detainment.
And the Massachusetts Teachers Association called for the immediate release of Da Silva.
"We call on leaders at every level to ensure our schools remain safe places of learning, belonging and safety for all students – not hunting grounds for ICE agents," said the union in a prepared statement.
To explain the taking of Da Silva, officials said during the press conference that it's their duty to enforce all immigration laws. They also noted that Da Silva's father knows he's wanted by ICE, but has not turned himself in to authorities.
Remains in custody
Da Silva will receive due process, will go before an immigration judge and will have the opportunity to post bond, according to ICE officials.
It's unclear where Da Silva is being detained. Lawyers were attempting to file a habeas corpus petition to challenge the legality of the teenager's detention, said Diego Low of the MetroWest Worker Center. Low told the Telegram & Gazette at the June 1 rally that he's been in touch with the family, serving as a translator.
It was Low's understanding that ICE didn't have a warrant and that Da Silva was detained in Burlington June 1, with a possible transfer to the Plymouth County Correctional Facility for continued detention.
Low did not immediately respond to a request for comment June 2 as to Da Silva's current status.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security did not immediately return a request for comment.
ICE: 1,500 arrests
Lyons said during the June 2 press conference that Operation Patriot has arrested roughly 1,500 criminal and illegal immigrants in Massachusetts since the beginning of May. The arrests have occurred in Boston, Worcester, Springfield, Lowell and other communities statewide.
Of the 1.500 arrested, nearly 800 committed significant crimes, according to officials. Nearly 300 have been ordered to be removed from the U.S. by an immigration judge.
Those arrested, said Lyons, include drug dealers, sex offenders, foreign fugitives, murderers, members of transnational gangs and other offenders. Many arrived in the United States to evade prosecution in their home countries, he said.
ICE officials stressed during the press conference that they're not done making arrests, but are "just getting started." Cooperation with state and local law enforcement is important, said ICE, but federal agents will work around them if necessary.
Federal special agents and officers will be in Massachusetts communities around the clock to conduct enforcement, according to officials, and anyone who interferes with their work will be prosecuted with the help of the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Healey has said that Massachusetts is not a sanctuary state. However, federal officials at the press conference said Massachusetts by its actions appears to be a sanctuary state because people are arrested on serious charges and allowed to walk free without notifying ICE while the cases are adjudicated.
Lyons explained that all ICE agents are Title 8 designated immigration officers from the Department of Homeland Security and Department of Justice, and not contracted by private security companies. When undocumented immigrants are released by Massachusetts courts, Lyons said the only way to apprehend them is for ICE to partner with other federal agencies.
Of the nearly 800 arrested in May and charged with serious crimes, Massachusetts U.S. Attorney Leah Foley said, many had been previously deported. She cited the example of a man arrested in Worcester who had been deported four times, had three pending charges for operating a vehicle under the influence of alcohol and was released by the courts.
Only when the terms of his release were violated was ICE notified and the man detained, said Foley.
Reporter Kinga Borondy contributed to this story.
Contact Henry Schwan at henry.schwan@telegram.com. Follow him on X: @henrytelegram.