Honors Highschool Student Recounts Horrible Conditions He Faced in ICE Detention Center

Key Takeaways: 

• Marcelo Gomez Da Silva, an 18-year-old high school student, was detained by ICE for 6 days for overstaying a visa as a small child. 

• Marcelo was held in an overcrowded detention center with grown men, given crackers for meals, and forced to use the bathroom in the open. 

  
  

Milford, Massachusetts – Marcelo Gomez Da Silva, an 18-year-old high school honor student was detained for six days by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). His treatment while in detention has put a spotlight on ICE as they eat up resources targeting and detaining honors students who grew up in America, instead of the criminals that were promised by the Trump campaign.  

Congressman Seth Moulton stated, "We support securing our border, we support following the law, but this administration is breaking the law… What we see here today it’s not American, it doesn’t represent our values."

Congressman Jake Auchincloss added, "This is not what law and order looks like… harassing a high school student… does not make the community safer. This administration has its public safety priorities backwards."

What Marcelo Faced in ICE Detention Center 

Marcelo offered a harrowing glimpse into life inside the facility: “There was like 40 men in there … we would barely get any attention.”

He described being held in an overcrowded room with adult men, sleeping on cold concrete floors, and going six days without a shower. Privacy was nonexistent, even for basic needs: “The bathroom … you have to pee and poop there. I haven’t pooped in six days.”

Meals were minimal and inconsistent. “Sometimes our lunch and dinner would be crackers, and I would share with the people there … they eat more than me, so I gave them food,” he recalled. For a teenager with no criminal record, detained just weeks before high school graduation, the experience was isolating, degrading, and deeply traumatic.

Despite these circumstances, Marcelo recounted a remarkable personal resolve. He shared that he turned to prayer, stating, "All I would do is thank God every day." He also offered to share his limited food with other detainees and translated deportation notices, demonstrating a focus on others even in his own distress.

A particularly striking detail from Marcelo's testimony is the denial of his request for a Bible. A student who regularly recited the Pledge of Allegiance at school, he expressed confusion: "I said the Pledge of Allegiance every day at school… But in a federal agency, I couldn’t get a Bible? That doesn’t make sense to me."