Marcelo Gomes da Silva wasn’t running from the law. He wasn’t hiding. He was driving to volleyball practice in his father’s car when federal immigration agents swarmed him.
“They said, ‘Do you know why you’re under arrest?’ And I said, ‘No,’” Marcelo recalled. “And they said, ‘Because you’re illegal. You’re an immigrant.’”
Marcelo is 18. He’s lived in Massachusetts since he was 6. He plays in the school band, goes to church, and has a pending asylum application. But none of that mattered when ICE showed up looking for his dad—and decided to take the teenager instead.
Marcelo Gomes Was Arrested on His Way to Practice—Then Spent Six Days in ICE Custody
Marcelo was held in the Burlington ICE facility for six days. He slept on a concrete floor in a windowless room filled with up to 35 adult men—some twice his age. There was no privacy. No outdoor time. No showers. No chance to pray. And barely any food.
“I had to use the bathroom in the open with like 35-year-old men,” he said. “It’s humiliating.”
Marcelo, who had suffered a concussion shortly before being detained, eventually had to be hospitalized. He was also denied a Bible when he asked for one.
“I’m a follower of Jesus Christ,” he said. “All I did was pray. Every time people would need food, I’d give them food. We even had a little church prayer together in the cell.”
He brushed his teeth twice. He shared his crackers with other detainees. He waited.
See also: “Free Marcelo”: High School Team Rallies After ICE Detains Teammate Before Practice
He Should’ve Been at Prom
Marcelo’s lawyer, Robin Nice, didn’t mince words.
“We disrupted a kid’s life,” she said. “These kids should be celebrating graduation and prom. They should be doing kid stuff. And it is a travesty and a waste of our judicial process to have to go through this.”
She wasn’t exaggerating. Marcelo is a high school junior, a band member, a church musician, a student with finals around the corner.
Instead, he spent the last week imprisoned in a federal facility, detained by an agency that admits they were not looking for him.
“They were targeting his father,” DHS said. But when they didn’t find him, they took Marcelo. Because they could.
Community Over Cruelty
But something happened that ICE didn’t expect: the town showed up.
Over 100 people gathered outside Marcelo’s court hearing wearing shirts with his volleyball number. Classmates, neighbors, teammates, teachers—they rallied every day, chanting his name outside Milford Town Hall, and again when he came home.
Marcelo emerged from detention in Crocs and a brown t-shirt with a “Free Marcelo” sticker on it. His dad, still wanted by ICE, hugged him at the door. His coach called him “more than an athlete.” His best friend said, “He would’ve done it for us.”
“I’m finally home,” Marcelo said. “I can’t wait to get back to school. I’ve got finals.”
A Broken System, A Kid Who Survived It
Marcelo’s story is one of survival—but it’s also a story of how normal this has become. A teenager is kidnapped off the street by ICE, held without due process, and only released because his community made noise. Not because the system worked. But because the people around him refused to stay silent.
He still has a long legal road ahead. His next hearing might not happen for months. But for now, he’s focused on being a student again. And maybe eating some Snickers and chicken nuggets.
“Faith, friends, and family,” Marcelo said. “That’s what got me through it.”
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