Brazilian student Marcelo Gomes, 18, was arrested by US immigration agents on Saturday (31) in Milford, Massachusetts, while heading for a volleyball training. Milford High School’s third year student and supposedly in an irregular migratory situation, Marcelo had his arrest marked by protests and outrage of the local community the next day. The information is from S.Paulo Folha and the portal UOL.
According to family members, Marcelo has lived in the US for 13 years and has never had problems with the law. His cousin, Julia Araújo, reported to the American press that the family is shaken by the separation. “It’s really something to leave the heart. Marcelo is a kind person, the last one who should go through it. The small brothers are asking if they will ever see him again,” he told the CBS.
The student is detained in an ICE (US immigration and control service) unit in Burlington, but managed to communicate with his parents. According to a colleague who was in the car with Marcelo at the time of the approach, two Ice vehicles surrounded the group and requested documents. Only Marcelo, older, was arrested; The friend, under 18, was not seized.
Massachusetts governor Maura Healey expressed outrage and demanded explanations of the immigration service on the reasons for prison and respect for due process of law. “I am disturbed and outraged by the information that a Milford High School student was arrested by Ice on the way to volleyball training. Once again, local authorities were left in the dark, without notice and without answers,” he said on his social networks.
Marcelo’s arrest occurs amid the hardening of migratory policies in the US, especially in states with a large presence of immigrants such as Massachusetts. Brazilians form one of the main foreign communities in the region, and cities like Milford have felt the impact of ICE actions, which, according to local schools, has already detained other parents in recent weeks.
