By Nate Raymond BOSTON (Reuters) -A Massachusetts high school student who was arrested during the weekend by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents on his way to volleyball practice was released from custody on Thursday after a judge granted him bond. Marcelo Gomes da Silva, 18, was granted a $2,000 bond by Immigration Judge Jenny […]
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Massachusetts high school student released from US immigration custody
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By Nate Raymond
BOSTON (Reuters) -A Massachusetts high school student who was arrested during the weekend by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents on his way to volleyball practice was released from custody on Thursday after a judge granted him bond.
Marcelo Gomes da Silva, 18, was granted a $2,000 bond by Immigration Judge Jenny Beverly in Chelmsford, allowing him to return home to his family in the Boston suburb of Milford following his Saturday arrest during a traffic stop.
The detention of the Brazilian, who arrived in the United States as a child in 2012 on a now-lapsed visa, prompted protests in Massachusetts as the incident became a flashpoint in Republican President Donald Trump’s efforts to ramp up immigration arrests and deportations.
Classmates gathered outside the immigration court celebrated after word of the judge’s decision reached them. Miriam Conrad, one of his lawyers, in an email called his arrest “pointless and cruel.”
In a video posted by GBH News following his release, Gomes told reporters that he spent his time in custody praying. “It’s not a good place,” he added.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Milford High School junior had been driving his father’s vehicle when he was arrested by ICE following a traffic stop, the agency’s acting director, Todd Lyons, told reporters on Monday.
ICE officials said Gomes was not the target of the investigation that led to his arrest, and that authorities instead were seeking his father, who has not been arrested.
“He’s in this country illegally, and we’re not going to walk away from anybody,” Lyons told reporters.
In response to a lawsuit alleging he was unlawfully detained, U.S. District Judge George O’Toole issued an order barring immigration authorities from transferring Gomes out of Massachusetts without 48 hours’ notice.
The lawsuit said Gomes entered the United States on a student visa in 2012. While his visa status has lapsed, the lawsuit said he intends to apply for asylum.
(Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston, Editing by Alexia Garamfalvi, Diane Craft and Bill Berkrot)