A 13-year-old boy from Everett who was arrested and detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has been transferred to a juvenile facility in Virginia.
Andrew Lattarulo, of Georges Cotes Law, said his firm received an email from the U.S. Attorney’s Office confirming the child was transferred on Friday at 9:30 a.m. He forwarded the email to MassLive.
The boy is still in custody, Lattarulo said.
The transfer occurred on the same day Judge Richard G. Stearns of the Boston federal court ordered the boy’s release by Tuesday unless ICE and the Department of Homeland Security could provide grounds for continued detention, according to court documents
ICE arrested the boy, whose family is from Brazil, after an interaction with the Everett Police Department, the Boston Globe reported.
The boy’s mother received a call on Thursday to pick her son up from the department; however, an hour and a half later, she was told ICE had taken her son, the Globe reported.
ICE and the Everett Police Department did not immediately respond to requests for comments on Monday.
This is not the first time ICE has detained someone younger than 18 in Massachusetts.
In September, ICE detained a 16-year-old boy in Milford during a traffic stop.
The teenager’s attorney, Jill Seeber, previously told WHDH-TV in Boston that the teenager went to get a snack at a nearby bakery when he stopped to talk to somebody that he knew. ICE agents then detained him, according to Seeber.
The boy was released from detention and was taken home by agents.
Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary of Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin previously told MassLive that ICE had no idea that the teenager was a minor and that he was detained “to determine his identity and if he was a potential safety threat.”
“ICE does NOT target juveniles or children,” DHS Assistant Secretary of Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement to MassLive. “At the time of the detainment, ICE had no knowledge of the individual’s age.”
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