U.S. Immigration and Enforcement says the arrest of an 18-year-old high school student in the country illegally was warranted, even though his father was the intended target.
According to a social media post by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, ICE officers were trying to apprehend a known public safety threat and illegal immigrant, 38-year-old Joao Paulo Gomes-Pereira, a Brazilian national, in Milford, Mass., on Saturday, May 31.
However, officers arrested Marcelo Gomes-Da Silva, an illegally present, 18-year-old Brazilian national and the son of the intended target, who was driving the vehicle. He is a junior at Milford High School and was stopped by ICE agents on his way to volleyball practice.
ICE officers engaged in a targeted immigration enforcement operation of a known public safety threat and illegal alien, Joao Paulo Gomes-Pereira. Local authorities notified ICE that this illegal alien has a habit of reckless driving at speeds in excess of 100 miles per hour… https://t.co/ujNS3NyBvs
— Homeland Security (@DHSgov) June 2, 2025
“While ICE officers never intended to apprehend Gomes-DaSilva, he was found to be in the United States illegally and subject to removal proceedings, so officers made the arrest,” DHS wrote on X.
Gomes-DaSilva remains in ICE custody pending removal proceedings. According to a CBS News report, Gomes-Da Silva will have a hearing in his case Thursday, his attorney said.
“At that time, we will request his release from ICE custody on bond,” Gomes-DaSilva’s attorney Robin Nice said in a statement Tuesday in the CBS report.
He is being held at an ICE detention center in Burlington, Massachusetts. Nice said Gomes “entered the United States lawfully when he was just barely 7-years old” with a student visa.
ICE held a press conference Monday regarding Operation Patriot, a monthlong targeted enforcement operation that netted nearly 1,500 arrests across Massachusetts. Reporters asked ICE officials about Gomes-Da Silva’s arrest.
At the time of the press conference, Joao Paulo Gomes-Pereira had not turned himself in, said Todd Lyons, ICE’s acting director.
“We were looking for his father, so obviously he wasn’t father of the year because he brought his son up here illegally as well,” Lyons told reporters. “We’re doing the job that ICE should have been doing all along and that we enforce all immigration laws.”
“And I will say, his dad hasn’t turned himself in yet and his dad knows he’s the target” of the operation, Lyons added.
CBS News reported that Gomes-DaSilva’s cousin Julia Sampaio said the family’s home in Milford has been surrounded by ICE agents since the teen’s arrest Saturday.
Local authorities notified ICE that his father, Gomes-Pereira, has a habit of reckless driving at speeds in excess of 100 miles per hour through residential areas endangering Massachusetts residents.
Officers spotted the suspected vehicle and conducted a traffic stop, intending to take Gomes-Pereira into custody.
“He (Marcelo) was not the target of the investigation, but like we have repeatedly said, sanctuary policies put us in a position to go out into communities and look for people,” said ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Boston acting Field Office Director Patricia H. Hyde during the news conference.
“When jurisdictions don’t cooperate with ICE, and we don’t arrest people in custodial arrests, then we must go out into the community. And when we go out into the community, and we find others who are unlawfully here, we are going to arrest them. We’ve been completely transparent with that. He’s 18 years old. He’s unlawfully in this country. And unfortunately, we had to go to Milford to look for someone else and we came across him and he was arrested.”
Lyons continued to respond to questions about why they detained an 18-year-old high schooler:
“I’ll put it back on you. What about an 18-year-old who is just stopped for a traffic violation by Mass State Police who’s wanted for being a habitual traffic offender on his way to graduation. Would you be asking that same question to the Mass State Police for not arresting him?
“I didn’t say he was dangerous,” Lyons said of Marcelo Gomes-DaSilva. “I said he’s in this country illegally, and we’re not going to walk away from anybody.”
Lyons also said ICE doesn’t just “scoop people off the street and remove them. Everyone gets due process.” Gomes-Da Silva will go in front of an immigration judge and have the opportunity to post bond.
