As classmates and community members show their support for a Massachusetts high school student detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, we're hearing from the teenager's father, who was agents' intended target.
Marcelo Gomes Da Silva, an 18-year-old junior at Milford High School, was taken into custody by ICE on his way to volleyball practice on Saturday. His teammates rallied the school's support during their playoff game Tuesday.
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WATCH HEREHis father spoke exclusively with Telemundo Nueva Inglaterra.
"We're doing really badly," he said in Portuguese. "We are very upset because we did not know that this could happen to us like the others."
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SIGN UP Gomes Da Silva's absence has been devastating to his family, his father said.
"I think that since he came to jail, without being mentally prepared for this, he feels like he's there and doesn't even know why," he said. "He's only 18 years old, he's like a boy."
ICE said Monday that Gomes Da Silva's father was the intended target, and that the teenager was driving his father's vehicle when he was stopped.
"Marcelo is an 18-year-old high school junior who entered the United States lawfully when he was just barely 7-years old," his attorney, Robin Nice, said in a statement. "He is deeply rooted in his community — active in his church, a dedicated member of both his high school marching band and church band, and surrounded by friends, teachers, and mentors who care deeply about him."
His father says the family, from Brazil, came on a visa that expired years after their arrival.
"When we came to the United States, we had a visa. We did not enter through Mexico. We had no idea that this could happen," he said. "We knew we could eventually fall out of status, but we were not afraid, because there were never reports of people with visas being deported and sent back to their countries."
Gomes Da Silva is being held at a Burlington detention center. A judge gave an order Sunday afternoon for him not to be moved out of the state for 72 hours.
"He came in lawfully, then he transitioned to another type of visa," Nice said. "Whether or not that's lapsed is sort of irrelevant to his detention, frankly."
When his teammates took on Taunton High School in the volleyball playoffs Tuesday, students filled the stands, dressed in white, with posters and signs supporting him.
Students walked out of Milford High School Monday calling for his release.
"Our life is here in the United States," his father said. "We have no desire to return to our home country."
A hearing is scheduled Thursday at Chelmsford Immigration Court, where his legal representation will call for his release on bond.
