He is an 18-year-old who can change your outlook on humanity, and give you hope.
Yesterday I joined Congressmen Seth Moulton and Jake Auchincloss in meeting now-former 18-year-old detainee Marcelo Gomes da Silva as he was released after six days of custody from the Burlington ICE facility. Marcelo committed no crime except for the misdemeanor of overstaying his visa 11 years ago, when he was seven years old. As he said to an ICE officer, “ma’am, I was seven years old. I had no idea about visas.”
Marcelo was circumspect, grateful for the outpouring of support from his Milford community and the rest of the Commonwealth, and certainly ecstatic to be released. He had not had a shower or had access to a proper bathroom facility for almost a week. But the focus of his concern was not for himself, but for his fellow inmates, “If all that happens is the focus is on me, I have failed. I want to tell my story, of course, … but if I’m the only one who is able to leave that place, I’ve lost. I want to do as much as I can to get them as much help as possible. If they have to be deported, so be it, but in the right way.”
To that end, I was able to break through the misunderstanding and outright deception as to the use of the Burlington ICE facility by accompanying Reps Moulton and Auchincloss part-way through the inside of the facility, and hearing from them and ICE officers about the rest. Let’s be clear. When the facility received permission from Town Meeting to open its doors, members were assured there would be no more than four holding cells for temporary stays. A “Warrant Article Backup” provided on behalf of ICE assured members that detainees, “do not remain overnight at the Burlington facility. ICE contracts with county correctional facilities to house the detainees.” Marcelo told us he was not sent to a county correctional facility or anywhere else. He spent each night on the cold concrete floor of the basement at the Burlington facility.
Most Burlington residents feel that a facility in their town should treat people with dignity and respect. As Marcelo told us, “If they [fellow detainees] have to be deported, fine. But it should be done the right way.”
Contrary to these representations, there are eight cells where detainees are kept, not one or two. I saw four of them, but was prevented from taking the entire tour. As members of Congress with oversight responsibility, Reps Moulton and Auchincloss had a right to tour the whole layout. Members of the public, including members of the Massachusetts legislature, do not have that right. The ICE officers could have allowed me to accompany the federal representatives but did not.
Through the windows of the doors, I saw people being confined to the four locked cells. We were told there were between 40 and 45 people kept at the facility at the time we were there, about 5:30 p.m. on a Thursday. That morning there were approximately 30 people housed there, all having stayed the night before, and all having departed.
While an ICE officer told me that people are kept an average of no more than 24 hours, and this is what was told to the Congressmen, I learned other details that caused suspicion of that claim. We were told the detainees received three meals a day, that blankets and pillows are provided, and that many are given sweatshirts and pants. While Marcelo would dispute that provision of blankets and pillows, other than a mylar wrap – a portion of which remained tied to his wrist – he was not asked about food or clothing. Nevertheless, a typical holding cell in a criminal courthouse where prisoners are kept no more than a day are not set up to provide three meals a day, blankets, pillows or clothing. Only those where overnight stays are anticipated are such items anticipated.
Marcelo, who speaks three languages, explains he slept on the floor. There is no window in the rooms and it was difficult to determine night from day. There was one clock on a wall in the hall outside the cell that people could see if they strained. Marcelo said that people who could not speak English were asked to sign documents written in English that waived important rights, and so he translated and advised them not to sign. Marcelo, in case you have forgotten, is barely 18 years old.
Our country, and our Commonwealth, have a tradition of treating even those accused of serious crimes with due process. People accused of the misdemeanor of overstaying a visa, especially as a child, should be treated with respect and empathy through the system. Even if the current White House has no place for the right of due process, we in Massachusetts still do.
I am grateful that our congressmen included me in the opportunity to learn what is going on behind the closed doors of the Burlington ICE facility. I will work with Congress and use this knowledge to stand up for due process, and the right to dignity under the law.
