☁️Cloudy day with showers possible tonight and highs in the 70s. Sunset is at 8:24 p.m.

Today GBH’s Sarah Betancourt brings us an interview with Marcelo Gomes Da Silva, the Milford High School student who was detained by federal immigration agents last month. But first: a federal judge in Boston yesterday ruled that the federal government acted illegally when terminated research grants through the National Institutes of Health and ordered the NIH to once again fund that research. It’s not yet clear if the U.S. Department of Justice will appeal.

The Trump administration had cancelled the grants for going against the president’s executive order targeting diversity, equity and inclusion programs, or its orders targeting transgender people. In Massachusetts, the Trump administration has cancelled 733 NIH grants and about 250 more National Science Foundation grants — more than in any other state. U.S. District Court Judge William Young said Monday that while the government may pursue the “extirpation of affirmative action,” this went beyond that.

“I’ve never seen a record where racial discrimination is so palpable,” said Young, who was appointed to the bench by former President Ronald Reagan in 1985. “Have we fallen so low? Have we no shame?”

Read more of Craig LeMoult’s reporting on the decision here and find background about this case here. 

Four Things to Know

1. State lawmakers have an agreement on how to spend more than $1 billion from the state’s so-called millionaire’s tax, an extra tax on income over $1 million. More than $700 million will go to transportation, including $300 million to the MBTA’s budget reserve. Another almost $600 million will go to schools, including $250 for special education.

By law, the state has to spend the money on either transportation or education under a ballot measure passed in 2022. Next: the bill will go to formal votes in the State House and Senate, and then proceed to Gov. Maura Healey for final approval.

2. The annual meeting of New England’s governors (along with the governor of New York) and premiers from Eastern Canada, hosted yesterday in Boston by Gov. Maura Healey, carried added significance this year, according to the elected officials.

“Look, everyone around this table is trying to deal with a situation that was thrust upon us,” Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston said. “Canadians, when they hear the talk of the 51st state stuff, we’re pretty ticked off about that. It kind of makes us really upset, but when we get together and talk about what’s possible and how do we move forward, that’s the stuff that we should focus on.”

3. So long to Red Sox player Rafael Devers, who is heading to the San Francisco Giants. The three-time All-Star’s trade left some Red Sox fans a bit confused. The team had asked Devers to move from his position at third base to designated hitter, and then to first base — moves that appear to have caused a rift.

In return for Devers, the Red Sox got two pitchers — Kyle Harrison and Jordan Hicks — and two minor league players — James Tibbs III and Jose Bello.

4. Athletes from St. Mary’s High School in Lynn won the 2025 Patriots Girls High School Flag Football Championship last week, beating Leominster High 20–13 and making waves among fans of girls’ and women’s sports who hope to see flag football gain more ground. Flag football is set to make its Olympic debut at the 2028 games in Los Angeles.

“It means a lot that maybe some other girls, younger girls, maybe even girls older than me look at me and think, ‘Oh, I want to do that one day. Oh, I want to join the sport,’” said Sophia Lafontant, the quarterback for St. Mary’s High School who was named MVP in last week’s championship.

Inside ICE custody in Burlington, Mass.: Milford teen shares his story

By Sarah Betancourt

Marcelo Gomes Da Silva, the 18-year-old Milford High School student detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents last month, said he’s been spending the time since his release with family and friends and trying to readjust to his life.

“I’m doing pretty good. I’m doing a lot better than being there. I’ve been praying — I’ve been working on myself a little bit. I have been getting better,” he said.

Readjustment hasn’t been easy. Members of the Milford Police Department have accompanied him outside of his parents’ home because of threats sent into the department during his detention. For the first few days he spent a lot of time indoors.

“I had a lot of friends over,” he said. “We got to play some video games. I got to talk to my parents.”

The experience weighs on him, he said — he wants to help others, but he also wants to be a normal teenager.

Gomes Da Silva spent six days in ICE’s Burlington field office before an immigration judge ordered his release. He described staying in the same room as 35 other men, having no hygiene supplies and sleeping on concrete. Gomes Da Silva speaks several languages and helped interpret other detainees’ English paperwork for them. The paperwork often ended with the signature of a federal agent confirming that they had explained the details of the case — something Gomes Da Silva said was not happening. He was anxious the whole time about being deported or transferred out of state.

Gomes Da Silva wore a cross during the interview with GBH News, and relied heavily on his faith to get him through the experience.

“I asked Jesus to guide me in there, give me strength, give me power. I asked him to use me for his glory, whatever he needed me to do in there,” he said.

Gomes Da Silva said that before he was released, and ahead of a tour by Congressmen Seth Moulton and Jake Auchincloss, federal immigration agents transferred nearly all of the immigrants at the facility.

“They cleaned up the whole place, of like a hundred immigrants that were in there. They all disappeared,” he said. He made a promise to some of the men that he’d try to help with their release, recently sharing a GoFundMe for a fellow detainee.

When he walked out of ICE’s Burlington field office, Gomes Da Silva said that seeing his family, friends and supporters in front of his family home, on the day he was released, made him happy and gave him solace.

Gomes Da Silva, a high school junior, recounted being detained by ICE en route to a volleyball practice. Officers were searching for his father, and instead detained him since he didn’t have papers.

He explained his confusion when an agent spoke to him. “He told me that I’m an immigrant, I’m illegal,” said Gomes Da Silva.

Gomes Da Silva said one female ICE officer spoke to him and said he had overstayed his visa, saying he arrived in the U.S. from Brazil in 2013, and it had expired in 2015 — when he was seven years old.

He went back to school once, but ended the school year with his previous grades standing for his finals. There was one thing that recently took his mind off the experience though: a pool party at his uncle’s home, he said.

Gomes Da Silva remains in deportation proceedings, with his next hearing likely during his senior year of high school.

Watch the full interview here.