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a 13 year old boy Massachusetts the boy was detained federal immigration agentClaiming he was armed with a gun – but local authorities later revealed the teen never owned a gun.
The case has surfaced with a mixture of shock and confusion online, with federal officials offering differing accounts from the press and city officials.
The seventh-grade student from Everett, Massachusetts, who has not been publicly named, was arrested locally last Thursday Police The city’s mayor said he received information that he had made a “violent threat” against another boy at a school. After this the officials arrested the teenager and registered a case against him. police stationFrom where Immigration and Customs Enforcement took him into custody.
The boy was initially kept nearby ICE facility Before being transported to the Northwest Regional Juvenile Detention Center in Virginia, 500 miles from his hometown, boston globe Reported on Sunday.
The boy and his family are Brazilian citizens and have a pending asylum case, their immigration lawyer told the newspaper.
the story was meet with Violation on social media, and caught the attention of the Department of Homeland Security, which responded to a tweet with “the facts.”
“Here are the facts: He posed a threat to public safety with an extensive rap sheet including dangerous weapons, battery, breaking and entering, destruction of property,” said Tricia McLaughlin, a DHS spokesperson, wrote On Monday.
“He was in possession of firearms and a 5-7 inch knife when he was arrested,” he said.
DHS doubled down on its claims the next day, reiterating that the teen was carrying a gun and a knife and had an “extensive” rap sheet. “Shameful @bostonglobe—Lying about public safety threats,” read Post From official department account.
However, at a news conference later Tuesday, Everett Mayor Carlo DeMaria contradicted federal officials’ statements, saying that authorities recovered a knife, but no gun.
Independent has contacted DHS to see if he stands by his original statements and has contacted the Everett Police Department and attorney regarding the teen’s alleged rap sheet.
Police did not contact ICE about the arrest, the mayor said: “Everett police do not make arrests based on immigration status.”
Once someone is taken into ICE custody, both Everett police and the city “have no authority or control over what happens next,” DeMaria said.
Local law enforcement told the teen’s mother, Josile Berto, she could take her son to the station. An hour and a half later, he was told he was taken to an ICE facility. “My world collapsed,” Berto said. globe In Portuguese.
An attorney for the teen filed an emergency habeas corpus petition on Friday. The district judge said the teen was “likely in the company of unrelated adult detainees” and ordered the government to “provide cause for grounds justifying the juvenile’s detention” by Tuesday, otherwise the boy must be given a bond hearing by Friday, court documents show.
However, the judge’s impression at the time was that the teen was still being held in a Massachusetts ICE facility. The government later pointed out that the petition was filed while the boy was on his way to Virginia, so this court “lacks jurisdiction”, the judge wrote. The case was transferred to the appropriate district on Wednesday.