High school student from Massachusetts who was arrested by ICE has been released

Marcelo Gomes da Silva, 18, was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents on Saturday and was given bond Thursday.

Published: June 5, 2025 5:17pm

A high school student in Massachusetts who was arrested by ICE while going to volleyball practice has been released from custody on Thursday.

Marcelo Gomes da Silva, 18, was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents on Saturday and was granted bond Thursday, according to The Associated Press.

Gomes da Silva came to the U.S. from Brazil when he was seven.

“It shouldn’t have happened in the first place," his lawyer, Robin Nice, said in a statement. "This is all a waste."

“We disrupted a kid’s life," the lawyer continued. "We just disrupted a community’s life. These kids should be celebrating graduation and prom, I assume? They should be doing kid stuff, and it is a travesty and a waste of our judicial process to have to go through this.”

“While ICE officers never intended to apprehend Gomes da Silva, he was found to be in the United States illegally and subject to removal proceedings, so officers made the arrest,” Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement.

On Monday, Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons said that “like any local law enforcement officer, if you encounter someone that has a warrant or … he’s here illegally, we will take action on it.”

According to Nice, Gomes da Silva first came to the U.S. on a visitor visa and was later issued a student visa that has since lapsed. 

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