By Nate Raymond
BOSTON (Reuters) -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 sparked a massive 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.”
Lyons spoke about Gomes’ arrest 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. He 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,” he said. “We enforce all immigration laws.”
A federal judge issued an emergency order on Sunday preventing authorities from transferring Gomes out of Massachusetts for at least 72 hours in response to 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 is eligible for and intends to apply for asylum.
(Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)
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