Nearly 100 people gathered outside Everett City Hall on Tuesday evening to protest the recent detention of a 13-year-old student and to demand that city leaders do more to oppose the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.
The teen, whose name has not been disclosed, was arrested by police at a bus stop last Thursday for allegedly posing a violent threat to another student. He was soon picked up by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and is now being held at a juvenile detention facility in Virginia.
An attorney for the boy’s family says they are from Brazil and are in the country legally with a pending asylum claim.
Protesters called for the 13-year-old to be immediately returned to Massachusetts and for the city to stop arresting minors.
“This is not the America that we should be pledging allegiance to every morning in our schools,” said Bridget Reed, a North Shore resident. “This is not what the Constitution is about. This is no due process. This is not what America was founded upon.”
Reed also called on local mayors to work together to stand up to ICE, citing the example of Boston Mayor Michelle Wu.
“I would like to see other mayors be just as vocal and outspoken to speak out against this inhumane treatment to all of our citizens because if it happens to one of us, it will happen to all of us,” Reed said.
Lau Gonzalez of Everett said the arrest was an injustice and suggested that city funds be redirected away from the police department.
“We would love more funding for public programming. We know that the working class right now is suffering,” Gonzalez said. “We should not be collaborating with ICE and taking away public funds from the public.”
The protest took place before an Everett City Council meeting where about two dozen residents spoke on the issue during the public comment period.
Only Councilor Guerline Alcy Jabouin addressed the issue, saying ICE should not have been able to access the police station to remove a minor.
Earlier in the day, Mayor Carlo DeMaria disputed protesters’ claims that the city was working with ICE.
At a press conference, DeMaria said: “There are two separate issues at play in the situation — public safety and immigration.”
He defended police for acting on what he called a credible tip that the 13-year-old made a “violent threat” against another Everett Public Schools student.
Once arrested, Everett police recovered a “six-to-seven inch double-sided knife,” he said. But DeMaria also said no firearm was recovered at the scene, which contradicted the claims of a Trump administration official.
Tricia McLaughlin, a senior U.S. Department of Homeland Security official, posted on X Monday that the teen had a gun when he was arrested and “an extensive rap sheet.”
Neither the Department of Homeland Security nor the Everett Police Department responded to a request for comment about the firearm discrepancy or the minor’s criminal history. A call to the family’s attorney was also not returned.
DeMaria said that Everett police did not contact ICE following the boy’s arrest and that the department does not make arrests based on immigration status.
He added that once ICE takes someone into custody, the city and the police department have “no authority or control over what happens next.”
“That said, I do believe ICE should have better equipped juvenile facilities that allow minors to remain close to their families and legal counsel as they move through due process,” DeMaria said, in reference to the minor being sent to a juvenile detention center in Virginia.
DeMaria said police picked up the boy at a bus stop in front of the Albert N. Parlin School in Everett. The boy is a seventh grader at that school, the Boston Globe reported.
ICE then took the boy into custody from the Everett police station.
Everett Police Chief Paul Strong said that the boy went through the usual booking process.
“Once your fingerprints are taken, it goes to ICE and they determine if you’re an illegal entry,” Strong said. “More often than not, they’ll call and say, ‘We’re sending a detainer over for this individual.’”
Strong said this is the first time, to his knowledge, that ICE has arrested a juvenile while in custody of Everett police.
Still, DeMaria acknowledged that a significant portion of Everett’s population is foreign born and many are scared after this arrest.
“Hopefully, Congress creates a pathway to immigration real soon because communities like Everett thrive off immigrants,” he said. “Hopefully, real soon, those in Washington can get together and get this done. That’s the problem here.”
