Milford, MA, teen describes 6-days in ICE facility: 'Nobody deserves to be down there'

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Marcelo Gomes da Silva, the 18-year-old Milford, Massachusetts, teen who was arrested last weekend while on his way to volleyball practice, spoke to the media shortly after being released on bail from an immigration facility in Burlington on June 5.

"Nobody deserves to be down there," da Silva told reporters as he gathered with his lawyers and Congressmen Seth Moulton and Jake Auchincloss, both Democrats from Massachusetts. "You sleep on concrete floors. The bathroom — I have to use the bathroom in the open with like 35-year-old men. It's humiliating."

Moulton and Auchincloss said they returned from Washington, D.C., on Thursday to speak with da Silva and to inspect the detention center.

Da Silva was arrested on May 31 while picking up his teammates so they could go to volleyball practice ahead of a playoff game on Tuesday. He was held for six days, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents told him they were trying to apprehend his father, who was wanted due to his driving record.

ICE agents followed his car for a while as they moved through Milford, then parked behind him as he pulled into a teammate's driveway, said da Silva. Agents turned their lights on and approached the vehicle, asking for da Silva's license and registration, then took him into custody.

The teen said he "didn't specifically know about my immigration status." While in detention, was told his student visa expired in 2015 — he had arrived in the United States two years earlier.

"I will always remember this place," da Silva said. "I will always remember what it was. I will always be grateful for what I have outside of this place."

Da Silva didn't learn anything about walkouts held at Milford schools to support him and to call attention to his situation until after he was released.

"We don't have TV in there," he said. "We don't get to see the daylight."

How the Burlington, Massachusetts, detention center was described

The teenager described his six days in custody by saying he was sleeping on the floor with very few blankets and that for lunch and dinner, they were given crackers. Most of the other men were in their 30s and larger than him, so he shared his portions.

"The doors are very big. There is only a small gap, and there are days we peek out of the gap and say, 'Guard, can you give us something?' and he'll say 'Yeah, I'll get you it.' And he would never come back," he said. "I asked for a Bible and for people to say, for me to say the pledge of allegiance at my school every single day and not have a Bible in a federal agency place is horrible.

"To me, I choose God first."

Da Silva added that he worked as a translator for other detainees who would bring him paperwork they didn't understand and ask what it said before signing it. Da Silva is fluent in English, Spanish and Portuguese. He said men would break down and cry when they were told it was deportation paperwork, because they have families and lives in the United States.

"Even, if they have to be deported, so be it, but do it the right way," da Silva said.

Adding, "Most people down there are all workers. They all got caught going to work. And these people have families, man, like they have kids to go home to. And there's, like, genuine criminals out there that people aren't giving attention to. They are getting good people that don't deserve to be here."

Congressmen Seth Moulton and Jake Auchincloss support due process and secure borders

Moulton and Auchincloss both spoke ahead of da Silva, saying their constituents support secure borders and immigration laws but they also said they supported due process.

"This is not what law and order looks like," said Auchincloss, whose 4th Congressional District includes Milford.

The pair also spoke out against having detainees sleeping on the floor, the lack of quality of the food and meals, as well as bathrooms.

"These are not (American) values. ... Jake and I are going to go in and inspect it for ourselves," said Moulton.