Top US immigration officials defend arrest of Massachusetts high school student – Nsemkeka
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.