13-Year-Old (Non-White) Child Arrested by ICE Race Soldiers in Massachusetts and Transferred Over 500 Miles from Family

A 13-year-old boy in Massachusetts was detained by local police on Thursday. When his mother arrived to pick him up, she learned that her son had instead been taken into Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody and later transferred to a juvenile facility in Virginia, more than 500 miles away. A federal judge has ordered the boy's release unless the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) provides grounds for his continued detention.

The boy, whose family is originally from Brazil, was initially arrested by Everett Police Department officers on Thursday evening, according to The Boston Globe. After waiting for an hour and a half to take her son home, Josiele Berto was told her son had instead been transferred into ICE custody, even though the boy and his family have a pending asylum case and are authorized to work legally in the United States, per the Globe.

Andrew Lattarulo, the boy's immigration attorney who filed a federal habeas corpus petition on the boy's behalf on Friday, told the Globe he had "never done a bond or a habeas for a kid this young, ever." United States District Judge Richard G. Stearns ruled the same day that the government must justify the boy's arrest by the end of Tuesday, or provide a bond hearing no later than Thursday. [MORE]