Local News
“Here are the facts: he posed a public safety threat with an extensive rap sheet,” a Department of Homeland Security official alleged.
A 13-year-old Everett boy arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents last week had a gun and a knife on him when apprehended, a Department of Homeland Security official claimed Monday.
“Here are the facts: he posed a public safety threat with an extensive rap sheet including violent assault with a dangerous weapon, battery, breaking and entering, destruction of property,” Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin wrote on social media. A later post from DHS offered identical allegations.
Because juvenile court records are not public, it was not clear whether the boy had actually been convicted of any of the offenses McLaughlin listed. Nor did McLaughlin say why the boy, a Brazilian national, was initially arrested or how he ended up in ICE custody.
According to The Boston Globe, the boy was detained following an interaction with members of the Everett Police Department. His mother, Josiele Berto, told the Globe she received a call to pick her son up from the police station last Thursday and waited for about an hour and a half before learning he had been taken by ICE.
“My world collapsed,” Berto told the Globe in Portuguese. She said her son, a seventh-grader at Everett’s Albert N. Parlin School, was ultimately transferred to the Northwestern Regional Juvenile Detention Center in Virginia, where he reportedly slept on concrete using an aluminum sheet as a blanket.
“We are heartbroken and doing everything we can to bring our son back to Massachusetts, where he belongs — with his family, his school, and his community,” the boy’s family added on a GoFundMe page to help cover legal expenses.
A lawyer for the teen filed an emergency habeas corpus petition in federal court in Boston last Friday, and Judge Richard G. Stearns gave immigration officials until Tuesday evening to justify the detention. Otherwise, they’ll have to bring him in for a bond hearing no later than Friday.
“I believe the child’s constitutional rights are being violated,” Andrew Lattarulo, the boy’s attorney, told the Globe. “He should have remained in Massachusetts, where he could address any and all allegations within the jurisdiction of his home state, not in a facility hundreds of miles away.”
Lattarulo did not respond to an interview request Tuesday. He previously told the Globe the boy and his family are awaiting an asylum hearing and have permission to work in the U.S.
An Everett police officer who spoke with the newspaper said a teenager was detained by a school resource officer Thursday on a felony offense, but privacy restrictions prevented him from confirming that teen was the same 13-year-old who is now in ICE custody.
The police department has a standing policy not to transfer custody of people in detention to federal immigration officials, the officer told the Globe. Everett police were not immediately reachable for comment Tuesday.
Mayor Carlo DeMaria backed the police department in a statement Monday, adding, “I am working to ensure that all state and federal agencies involved honor the rights of all individuals throughout the criminal justice process.”
“As mayor, I take my responsibility to share accurate information with residents very seriously, especially on issues that can unnecessarily upset residents if inaccurate or false information is circulating,” DeMaria said, specifically citing the teen’s arrest.
The Everett Police Department and Chief Paul Strong “take any reported threats to the safety of our schools and our streets seriously and respond swiftly to protect students and residents,” DeMaria continued. “At the same time, the EPD ensures that the rights of all individuals are respected, as they have in this developing case.”
In the meantime, the boy’s family described the ordeal as “something no parent should ever experience.”
“This has been a nightmare for us, but with your help, we can bring our child home and make sure no other family has to live through this pain,” the family’s GoFundMe states.
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