Maine family, with two high schoolers, detained by ICE

Local News

A mother and her three teenagers were detained at the Canadian border. Two are students at two Portland high schools.

A Maine family was detained by federal immigration agents at the Canadian border last week, leaving empty seats at two Portland high schools.

Two Portland Public School high schoolers, who attend Casco Bay and Deering high schools, were detained with their family in Vermont and transferred to Texas, Superintendent Ryan Scallon told families Friday.

“To have students in class one week and then suddenly gone the next is traumatic. And to know that two young people are in a detention center when they could be in school is deeply upsetting,” the district said in a statement. “The Portland Public Schools remains committed to serving all students, irrespective of immigration status, and we will not change.”

The Department of Homeland Security and Customs and Border Protection did not return a request for comment, but the Portland Press Herald reported that CBP confirmed the family’s detention.

The “family unit,” including four family members, was returned by Canada Border Services Agency to the port of entry in New York on Nov. 12 after being denied asylum, the spokesperson said, per the Herald.

The four family members entered the U.S. near San Luis, Arizona in 2022, CBP said.

A GoFundMe is raising money to hire a lawyer and pay bond for Carine Balenda Mbizi, Olivia Mabiala Andre, Joel Mabiala Andre, and Estefania Mabiala André. Mbizi is the mother of 19-year-old Olivia, 16-year-old Joel, and 14-year-old Estefania, The Boston Globe reported.

Mbizi, of the Democratic Republic of Congo, is in the South Texas Family Residential Center, while Olivia is also in custody, according to ICE’s inmate tracker. The detention facility was not listed. 

Joel and Estefania did not appear in the tracker, which does not show information about juveniles. Kennedy Park Pickup Soccer, where Joel plays soccer in Portland, asked their community to call local representatives to prevent the family’s deportation.

“Joel is a part of our family, an attack on one of us is an attack on all of us,” the soccer community wrote on social media. “We must do everything in our power to fight for Joel.”

Molly Farrar is a general assignment reporter for Boston.com, focusing on education, politics, crime, and more.