GBH Daily: Life after ICE detention

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Federal immigration officers have detained thousands of people in Massachusetts this year, part of President Donald Trump’s mass deportation policies. About 70% of the immigrants detained nationwide between January and October had no criminal record, according to government data. While some people have been deported and some remain in custody across the country, others have been released, seen their cases dropped, or are out on bond while they await future court hearings. Today we have four stories from people detained locally and released back to their New England communities, as reported by GBH News’ Sarah Betancourt, who has been following these cases all year.

Four quick things to know today:

-Marijuana’s new drug classification could unlock long-delayed medical research

-State health officials warn of measles exposure and watch for outbreak

-19 states sue HHS over a move that could curtail youth gender-affirming care

-‘They are not forgotten’: People gather for worship service at ICE building in Burlington

After detention: What life’s been like for four immigrants in New England

GBH News reporter Sarah Betancourt has been following the cases of immigrants detained in Massachusetts this year. Here are the stories of four people detained and released, and how they’re doing now. 

Rümeysa Öztürk, the Tufts graduate student detained on the street outside her apartment in Somerville and kept in federal custody for 45 days — sometimes without access to her asthma medication — is now working on her Ph.D. dissertation, her attorney said. “Really, it’s an example of how she is really dedicated to her Ph.D. related to child study and human development,” her attorney Mahsa Khanbabai said on GBH’s Boston Public Radio. Öztürk still has ongoing legal cases: an immigration court case through which the U.S. government attempted to deport her and a case in federal court in which she challenged her detention.

Khanbabai noted that Öztürk’s case shows the vast power the U.S. government has over immigrants: the Trump administration revoked Öztürk’s student visa without her knowledge and detained her after she co-wrote an op-ed for the Tufts student paper about Israel’s war in Gaza. “Essentially it means Secretary [of State Marco] Rubio can say, ‘I don’t like that person for whatever reason. And I’m going to revoke their visa,’” Khanbabai said.

April 11: Detained Tufts student alleges poor medical treatment, religious freedom restrictions in detention

May 10: Öztürk lands at Logan: 'I have faith in the American system of justice’

Dec. 16: Öztürk’s lawyer speaks

Marcelo Gomes da Silva, the Milford High School student detained while driving to volleyball practice over the summer, said he’s focusing on his senior year of high school and thinking about college. “In the beginning it was obviously hard because my parents were super nervous. They were really scared,” Gomes da Silva told Betancourt. “But after time it slowly started getting better because we were able to do things that have to do with our documentation, like apply for asylum and things like that. So slowly things have been getting better.”

He said his memories of the ICE detention center in Burlington, where he slept on concrete in one room with 35 other men and did not have access to hygiene supplies, “will never go away.” He’s been advocating for other immigrants in detention. “I wanna go to college for political science and hopefully go to law school. I’m really interested in being a politician and I feel like if I educate myself more and more, I will be able to help others around me,” he said.

June 5: Milford teen released from ICE detention, says 'All glory goes to God’

June 12: Inside ICE custody in Burlington: Milford teen shares his story

Lucas Dos Santos Amaral has welcomed a son, Theo, since his release from ICE custody. He’s also been singing gospel in churches across New England and has a valid work permit. His next court hearing is two years away, in the winter of 2027. “We are ending another year united and stronger, because I believe that this battle I faced will serve the benefit of all of us immigrants,” Dos Santos Amaral said in a message to Betancourt. “Our Christmas will have a taste of victory and gratitude.”

The ICE agents who pulled him over in January were looking for a different person, and local elected officials at the time said it appeared they pulled over Dos Santos Amaral because they had racially profiled him. He was taken to ICE detention in Plymouth, then moved to Texas. After a judge ordered him released, ICE let him out without his identification, so friends flew to Texas to bring him documents so he could travel back to his family — his pregnant wife and their first daughter — in Massachusetts.

“My life has never been the same — those were frightening and traumatic days, hope was scarce, but my faith in God never wavered,” he said.

January 29: A Marlborough father left for work. Now he fears deportation, even with no criminal record.

March 24: Marlborough father recalls ‘nightmare’ of ICE detention as he adjusts to life back in Mass.

Fabian Schmidt, a New Hampshire resident and Green Card holder, was detained at Logan airport in March, where he says he was violently interrogated and denied the ability to contact his family, an attorney, or the embassy for his home country, Germany. Federal authorities kept him in custody for two months, then dropped his case and released him.

The weekend of his release, Schmidt proposed to his partner. They’ve since gotten married and Schmidt returned to work. “I love this country so much. My daughter, my wife, my whole life is here,” he told Betancourt. “So I’m trying to become an American as soon as possible. And if there was some kind of magic trick to make that happen now, I would totally sign my paperwork.”

He said he feels the trauma of the experience. He’s developed stomach ulcers because of the stress.

“Honestly, I don’t think that’s gonna fade for quite a while. I think about it every day. Every day, I think about my own pain — It still makes an impact on me for sure,” he said.

March 16: Green card holder from New Hampshire 'interrogated’ at Logan Airport, detained

May 14: ‘Degrading, dehumanizing, horrendous:’ Fabian Schmidt on 2 months in ICE detention