CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – Some City Councilors in Everett, MA are demanding the immediate return of a 13-year old boy detained there by ICE and taken to a juvenile detention center more than 500 miles away in Winchester, Virginia.
“If you think taking a 13-year old child away from their parents, away from their home, and sending them to another state to sleep on the floor… if you think this is okay, then we have a bigger problem in our community,” said Councilor Guerline Alcy Jabouin at a Tuesday night meeting.
Everett Mayor Carlo DeMaria, along with the city’s police chief Paul Strong, at a press conference earlier in the day confirmed they responded Thursday, October 9 to a report of a juvenile threatening another boy at a bus stop, and apprehended the 13-year old. DeMaria and Strong maintain the response prevented what could have been a very tragic situation and the boy did have a 6-to-7 inch double-sided knife in his possession.
Chief Strong said they took the boy to the station and booked him like they do in all these types of situations and the child’s mother arrived.
They did not contact ICE, but once fingerprints are taken, they go into a database to which ICE has access and they came to pick the child up.
The boy is from a Brazilian family with legal work permits in the United States. The family’s attorney claims the boy was taken to a Burlington, VT holding facility Thursday night, and transported to the Northwestern Juvenile Detention Center in Winchester Friday.
A Department of Homeland Security statement released to Massachusetts media afterward said about the 13-year old, “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. He was in possession of a firearm and a 5-7 inch knife when arrested.”
Mayor DeMaria said Tuesday’s presser the boy did not have a firearm.
“There was no firearm recovered, just the 6-to-7-inch double sided knife.”
At Tuesday night’s meeting, Everett City Councilor Katy Rogers responded angrily and demanded, “DHS issue a formal correction to the misinformation spread online, and fire Tricia McLaughlin, your public affairs secretary at the Department of Homeland Security, for publicly releasing false information about a minor without notifying local officials and compromising an active investigation.”
“Let me be very clear,” Rogers said, “Everett Police are not the problem. The problem is grotesque federal overreach, an unprecedented intrusion designed to create fear and fracture our community.”
“To the Trump Administration, return the child to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Our state is well-equipped to handle crime.”
According to DataUSA, which is a joint venture between Deloitte, MIT, and Datawheel, 45.3% of Everett, MA’s population, about 22.3k of the city’s 49.2k, were born outside of the United States with 71% in 2023 U.S. citizens. The non-citizen percentage is well below the US average 93.4%. Large immigrant populations are from Brazil, Central and South America, and Haiti.
The city last month cancelled its Festa del Rio Hispanic Heritage Month celebration in light of increase ICE enforcement across Massachusetts.
