On May 31, Marcelo Gomes Da Silva, an 18-year-old rising senior at Milford High School, was unexpectedly detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, officials while en route to volleyball practice. The news of his detainment quickly spread throughout the Milford community and led to widespread condemnation from community members, local leaders and even Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey.

Gomes, who has lived in Milford, Mass. since he was 5 years old, is originally from Brazil but has long been considered a member of the small town’s community. He’s on his high school’s volleyball team and regularly plays music at a local church, and his friends said in interviews with The Huntington News that he had never had trouble with the law. 

Gomes was held in an ICE detention center in Burlington for six days. Community members protested the day after he was arrested and petitions circulated arguing that detaining a well-established high school student was unnecessary.

On June 5, a judge granted Gomes’ release on a $2,000 bond, and he now faces ongoing legal proceedings related to his immigration status.

The Huntington News spoke with Gomes about his time in detainment and what’s next. 

This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

The Huntington News: Can you please walk me through the day of your ICE detainment? What was your initial reaction when you were pulled over? 

Gomes: I got out of my house. I didn’t notice anyone following me. I got to my friend’s house to pick him up to go to volleyball practice, and right when I picked him up, I looked in my rearview mirror to see if any cars were coming, and I saw a white car. It was a white Ford Explorer. So I was like, “Okay, whatever. It’s just a normal car.” So I drove away. I drove two minutes to my other friend’s house, and I noticed the car was following me.

But right when I got into my friend’s driveway, the car stopped behind me and turned on its lights. That’s when I knew, I was like, “Oh, it’s a cop.” I was like, “Maybe I was driving the wrong way, doing something wrong.” But an ICE officer knocks on my window, and he says, “Get out of the car.” He gives me no reason.

Obviously, I am in shock. I open the door. I get out. I look around, and I see three more cars. So, I’m like, “Woah, did I do something?” I saw them open their doors and I saw ICE written on their bulletproof jackets. And I was like, “This is really bad.”

I always like to emphasize Jesus in everything that I do. I emphasize Jesus in my life, and I 100% believe he kept me calm because I never cried. I didn’t cry when ICE stopped me. I wasn’t angry at the officers. I didn’t feel any type of way but calm. I was serene.

The entire time, ICE would talk to me very rudely or wouldn’t be nice to me, I was just so calm. I was in so much shock to the point where I was able to sit back in my car. Both of my friends were there, and we sat there in silence, complete silence. We couldn’t even look at each other, talk to each other for 10 minutes because of how much fear we were in.

HN: Did ICE put you in handcuffs? Do you remember walking toward the vehicle? 

Gomes: It was an undercover Ford white car. I would never know that it was a cop car until it turned on its lights and I was like, “Oh yeah, that guy is federal.” An ICE officer told me to get out of the car after like 15 to 30 minutes and said, “Put your hands behind your back.” And I put my hands behind my back, and he put handcuffs on me. 

I forgot to mention that an ICE officer got my drivers license before that and knew who I was. So, he told me, “Put your hands behind your back,” and as the ICE officer is putting me in handcuffs, he said “Do you know why you are under arrest?” I’m like, “No I have no clue.” And he said “It’s because you’re an illegal immigrant.” And that’s it. The officer turned me around and brought me to the white car, and I sat in there just waiting, just quiet. 

HN: Later, officials said you weren’t the intended target of the operation — your dad was. Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement to NBC 10  that “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.” Was there any time when the agents realized that they were arresting the wrong individual?

Gomes: Absolutely not. They never brought up my dad. They never asked about my dad. I would have never guessed that they were looking for my dad. I thought it was like a normal stop that they were just doing to arrest a random immigrant, like, I never thought they would come after my dad. They never mentioned him, never said his name, never asked about him. ICE checked my identification, knew that I was 18 and knew that I probably had a father or a mother.  They knew who they were getting, and it wasn’t my dad. It was me. 

HN: What were you thinking when you were sitting in the back of that ICE van? 

Gomes: I was still calm. I was quiet. I talked to the ICE agent. Sometimes I would say, “Did I do something wrong?” And an ICE agent would say, “No, this is protocol. I have to bring you in as a detainee, etc.” And I would just be quiet. I was in shock. Until I got to the place in Burlington, I was in shock.

HN: Were you told where you were going? And as you were arriving in Burlington, what were your first impressions?

Gomes: I didn’t know where I was going. An ICE agent ended up bringing us to a random parking lot, and they put us in different types of handcuffs, which got my ankles, my belly and my arms. There were four other people with me, two Brazilians, whom I actually surprisingly knew from Milford. I wasn’t close to them, but I’ve seen them around. There were two Hispanic guys that I was able to talk to.

They put us in a Mercedes black van and took us to Burlington. When I first got there, I was like, “Wow, I’m really here, I am in a prison right now.” And when I got down there, I was able to look through a window and see multiple immigrants, like 35 immigrants in each cell. They were all on concrete floors, with aluminum foil all over them. And I was like, “Wow. This is where I’m probably going to be for a day or two.” But it was six days.

HN: Can you tell me a little bit about the conditions at Burlington? What was your first night like?

Gomes: They would give us food. But obviously, they weren’t organized in doing so, and the food was horrible. We would beg for graham crackers that had no calories instead of eating the food they gave us. I feel like, if you were to go out and get the food they gave us, and put it down in front of a dog, it wouldn’t eat it. That’s how horrible it was. It was mushy mac and cheese, like plastic-tasting mac and cheese. A lot of people weren’t even able to finish the food, which is why a lot of people lost weight. It was bad. 

For my reaction on my first night, I definitely didn’t like where I was. I was still in shock. I didn’t understand what was going on. People around me would ask me, “How old are you? Who are you?” And I would tell them. But for most of the first day, I was in shock.

HN: Have you ever had any trouble with the law in the past?

Gomes: I have never been in trouble at school, never been in trouble with the law. I’m very loved by the Milford Police Department, and I know a lot of the police officers I’ve never, never done anything wrong and never done anything to hurt anybody. Like I said, I’m a Christian. I’m a follower of Jesus. It’s the biggest reason why my community supported me so much, because I’m a nice person. I try to show love to everyone. That was one of my biggest things in those cells — making people laugh, making people happy, making people smile.

HN: As someone who has never had any trouble with the law before, what was it like being in detainment? 

Gomes: Obviously, I didn’t know what to think. The way it happened, ICE made it seem like I killed five people. They would put the biggest handcuffs on me. They would treat me like I was a horrible criminal, and I’m not, I am an 18-year-old. I was obviously very scared. I didn’t know how anything worked. I learned throughout the days that we were actually not in a specific prison. We were in a place where we were supposed to stay temporarily, and the maximum time we were supposed to stay there was 72 hours. And obviously, I overstayed. They weren’t supposed to keep me in there for that long. Some people were there for three to four days as well. 

HN: How was your family notified about your detainment, and what day or how many hours after your detainment did you contact them?

Gomes: My family found out because of [a friend of Gomes]. He went out and, I guess, told my volleyball team, told my friends and family, and they found out. On the first night, since I didn’t get a phone call, they decided to let me make one [to] my Dad. I told him, “Yeah, I’m here.” I was crying. When I finally heard my Dad’s voice we started shedding tears, he and I. 

HN: Speaking of your father, Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said to WCVB in a statement on June 2 in reference to your father that he is “an illegal alien who has a habit of reckless driving at speeds in excess of 100 miles per hour through residential areas.” Does that describe  your father?

Gomes: It’s incredible that that is still the excuse they used. First of all, it’s stupid. But theoretically, could you actually drive 100 miles an hour in a residential area? Like, that’s impossible. Second of all, I smack my dad in the back of the head, not literally, to go faster. Like, I tell him “You’re going so slow.” He always drives the speed limit. 

I learned about God and Jesus from him. If you think I’m humble and nice, my dad is 20 times nicer. He is the sweetest person ever. People who really know him here, know that he has such a good heart. ICE just said that as a backup. And to be honest, that’s like the worst backup you could possibly have. 

HN: You said in a press release that you were a translator for other detainees, what was that like?

Gomes: There were a lot of Ecuadorians and Brazilians in there who would come in with English written papers, either declaring them as deported or put in court. And they would always ask, you know, “What does it say? What does this say?” They would hand me the papers, and I would read it to them and translate them into their language so they could understand. And what hurt me the most is that, usually at the end of those papers, there would be the signature of the ICE officer. It would be a signature saying, “I,” whatever the ICE officer’s name is, “am stating that I explained this to them in their language, and they understood.” They didn’t know what they were reading. And obviously they wanted me to help them, and that’s what I did. I let them know. Some of them, I had to tell them that they were deported, which came at a horrible time because some of them would tell me they have kids, they have a family, and I would have to tell them the horrible news and just sit there and watch them cry. It was never good. 

HN: How did it feel knowing that the Milford community supported you during your detainment?

Gomes: On the first day, my dad told me about it on the phone. I was like, “He’s over-exaggerating, I doubt there are this many people.” Then I found out. I was the happiest man alive. It shows that my efforts to make people smile, make people laugh and make you happy, decided to come back and reflect, which made me super happy. I went outside today, and I got to see some people in the street. People would just drive by and beep at me, or come outside of their car and give me a big hug. Because, like, I obviously am helping, still helping the immigrant community, and trying to do whatever I can.

HN: You were held on a $2,000 bond, and you were released after six days. What were your first steps of freedom like?

Gomes: I asked the woman driving me [home], “Please, give me some fries, nuggets and coke from McDonald’s”. I flippin’ love McDonald’s, man. I’m a simple guy, nothing crazy. She was like, “Hey, there’s press that wants to meet you today. I get it. You can go rest, go home and talk to them tomorrow.” I was like, “Heck no, I need them to see how I look right now, how I look like after those six days.” Obviously, I stink, my armpits stink. But they need to know how it was in Burlington, and I will be a perfect representation if I just show them straight up. So that’s what I did. I went to meet with them. 

HN: What was it like hugging your parents after six days?

Gomes: I thought I was prepared, and I wouldn’t cry. But, when my dad hugged me, I was shedding tears — my mom, my brother, my sister — my goodness, crying like crazy, super happy. Overwhelmed.

HN: When do you plan on going back to school?

I can’t go back to school. I’ve graduated my junior year. They said I don’t have to go back. I did want to go to say hi and thank my community, but I’m planning on a little something to give back. But, yeah, I don’t have to do my finals.

HN: What are your family’s next steps after your detainment?

Gomes: I’m trying to help my parents get their green cards, whatever citizenship they need. Obviously, me too, and do whatever I can to help the immigrant community.

HN: What would you like to say to the Milford community?

Gomes: I love you guys more than anything. You guys mean the world to me. I will keep working from Milford to become better and better, do whatever I possibly can.