The head of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement defended on Monday his agency’s decision to arrest a Massachusetts high school student on his way to volleyball practice, saying, “he’s in this country illegally and we’re not going to walk away from anybody.”
Todd Lyons, the acting director of ICE, made those comments as reporters asked him during an event in Boston to explain why authorities on Saturday arrested 18-year-old Marcelo Gomes Da Silva, who has been in the United States since 2012.
The Brazilian’s arrest prompted a large protest on Sunday in the Boston suburb of Milford, where he lives, and a demand for information about the incident from Democratic Governor Maura Healey, who said she was “disturbed and outraged” by the situation.
Lyons spoke about the arrest of Gomes while announcing the results of an immigration enforcement surge in Massachusetts that resulted in nearly 1,500 people being taken into custody last month as part of Republican President Donald Trump‘s hardline effort to ramp up mass deportations.
Lyons and Patricia Hyde, the acting field director of ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations in Boston, said Gomes was not the target of the investigation that led to his arrest, and that authorities instead were seeking his father, who remains at large.
“So obviously, he isn’t the father of the year because he brought his son up here illegally as well,” Lyons said.
The Milford High School student had been driving his father’s vehicle when he was arrested following a traffic stop, Lyons said. Lyons said that when authorities encounter someone in the country illegally, “we will take action on that.”
“We’re doing the job that ICE should have been doing all along,” Lyons said. “We enforce all immigration laws.”
“The actions by ICE in arresting a teenager on his way to volleyball practice are outrageous,” Miriam Conrad, Gomes’ lawyer, said in a statement. “Locking up a high school junior with no criminal record does not make the community safer. It sows fear among immigrants.”
Hours after the press conference, a federal judge issued an order, opens new tab barring immigration authorities from transferring Gomes out of Massachusetts without 48 hours’ notice while the court considers a lawsuit arguing he was unlawfully detained.
The lawsuit said that Gomes entered the United States on a student visa. While his student visa status has lapsed, the lawsuit said he intends to apply for asylum.
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