Updated May 27.
The father and teenage son who were out fishing together before they were taken into ICE custody were ordered by federal judges to be released from the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in the past week. The son, 15-year-old Nycolas de Al Varenga Lima, has already returned to the Island, and the father, Rogerio da Silva Lima, returned to the Vineyard today after being released Wednesday.
During a hearing on Tuesday afternoon in the U.S. District Court of Massachusetts, Judge Indira Talwani ordered the release of Da Silva Lima, citing that federal immigration officials had not followed the proper protocols after Da Silva Lima was initially detained.
“Judge Talwani saw that it’s inappropriate and unconstitutional for ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] to detain people without any constitutional protections any time they want,” Amelia Lynn Ritenour, the attorney from Haven Immigration Law representing Da Silva Lima, told The Times on Tuesday following the hearing.
Da Silva Lima was held at Plymouth County Correctional Facility and his release was processed at ICE’s facility in Burlington, Mass on May 27. Island community members, including from the Vineyard chapter of LUCE Immigrant Justice Network, a volunteer network that supports immigrants and keeps tabs on ICE, picked up Da Silva Lima at Burlington and brought him back to the Island.
Last Monday, Da Silva Lima and his son were taken to Woods Hole by the U.S. Coast Guard of Station Menemsha to be handed over to ICE. The Coast Guard had boarded the boat they were fishing from after noticing a lack of a vessel registration number on the side of the hull and suspicion of possible other violations. After checking the ID of the adults, the Coast Guard found an outstanding warrant on Da Silva Lima from a 2023 removal order, which led to his and his son’s transfer to ICE.
A flurry of activity followed, with Island immigration activists banding together to prevent the father and son’s being sent to Texas, which is where ICE has a facility for families. Demonstrations on-Island also followed in support of the detained pair, including a walk out by Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School students, where Nycolas is a student, and a rally in Menemsha, where it was revealed that the son had been released. Nycolas’ case is still ongoing in federal court.
According to the facts shared in the hearing on Tuesday, Da Silva Lima, originally from Brazil, had entered the U.S. illegally in 2021. While Da Silva Lima was initially detained that year, he was released under recognizance, which allows him to remain in the country as long as he attends his immigration hearings and doesn’t commit any crimes. In 2023, an immigration judge issued a removal order against Da Silva Lima after his asylum application was rejected, which he unsuccessfully appealed to the U.S. Board of Immigration Appeals.
Talwani said that Da Silva Lima was not detained by ICE for 90 days after the removal order was placed on him. The clock would’ve started in Jan. 2024 after his appeal was dismissed. This is a requirement for the process of deporting an individual. Additionally, an order of supervision was not placed on Da Silva Lima, which is like probation and places additional protections while a case progresses, like preventing indefinite detention.
Vincent Engingro III, the attorney from the Justice Department’s Defensive Litigation Unit representing ICE and the Department of Homeland Security, argued that the 90-day period begins when a detention occurs.
But Talwani disagreed, saying the proper protocols weren’t followed.
“Why do you get a new bite at the apple?” Talwani said.
Additionally, Da Silva Lima was not viewed as a flight risk.
Talwani said the order wasn’t an “open invitation for Mr. da Silva to stay here,” but it won’t be in detention. ICE can still file for an order of supervision on Da Silva Lima, which provides certain protections for him even if the agency pursues deportation, like preventing indefinite detention and allowing him to stay in his community.
The detainments came nearly a year after an Island-wide sweep led by ICE resulted in the arrest of 20 individuals. While there haven’t been any large-scale arrests since last May, there were several individual arrests. Although some of those arrested carried criminal charges, others had no criminal record, like Newton Waite, the owner of Vineyard Caribbean Cuisine in Oak Bluffs, who was detained in September in Teaticket. Waite is currently in an ICE facility in Buffalo, N.Y.
A shared sentiment to protect Island immigrant neighbors manifested itself during the demonstrations over the weekend. At MVRHS, roughly 200 students poured out of the school to wave signs along the sidewalk of Edgartown–Vineyard Haven Road in support of their peer Nycolas. In Menemsha, an even higher number of people showed up, with an estimated 275 supporters overflowing the streets. Portuguese translators spoke after each speech.
Only around 25 Brazilians attended the Menemsha protest, according to leaders in the local Brazilian community. Marcia Borges, a historian and Island resident who volunteered as an interpreter at the event, said she believes Brazilians didn’t go because they were afraid. “What I observe, in general, is that people are keeping to their domestic spaces, which is very understandable — they continue working, going about their things, but trying to protect themselves as much as they can.” One source who asked not to be identified because of their immigration status said, “I know many people who would have liked to join the protest, but were afraid; I’m one of them. They [ICE] are killing even Americans.”
More people in the Brazilian and other immigrant communities felt safer to join the walk-out at the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School last Friday. “A year after the raid, the initial panic has calmed down, but this episode involving father and son was shocking, an unexpected situation that hit the Brazilian community hard,” one of the sources said. People got used to living in an uncomfortable situation, they said, adding, “You can’t stop your life, it needs to go on, but at the same time everyone has kept in an alert mode.”
The Times spoke to people within the Brazilian community who preferred not to be named, but commented that they know of a handful of families who left the Island in the past winter, and others who, after the latest episode, determined their return date because of the psychological pressure.
Editor’s note: A clarification was added regarding Rogerio da Silva Lima’s removal order in 2023. Additional information was added about the release of Da Silva Lima and Nycolas de Al Varenga Lima.
Hooray for due process of law! So glad our neighbors are back on MV where they belong!
I am relieved father and son are back, or on their way back, with their family and community. No decent person should want to see a 15-year-old traumatized or a family torn apart if there is a lawful way to avoid it.
But this ruling should not be misunderstood. The reported immigration history does not disappear. The article says Mr. da Silva entered illegally, had a removal order issued, and unsuccessfully appealed it. Those facts still matter.
What the judge appears to have said is that ICE also had to follow the law. After his appeal was dismissed in January 2024, the government apparently had a 90-day removal period to detain and remove him. According to the article, ICE did not detain him during that window and did not place him under an order of supervision afterward.
ICE’s argument seems to have been that the 90 days started when they picked him up now. Judge Talwani apparently rejected that — “Why do you get a new bite at the apple?”
That distinction matters. Due process is not a loophole. It is part of the law.
Compassion matters. Procedure matters. The law matters — in both directions.
What harm have they done?
Rich irony, indeed, Dan. None of this would have happened if the due process of law had originally been followed.
I am on record as not voting for Trump, and I am not part of the MAGA crowd. I always try to look at these things fairly.
The article says Mr. da Silva entered illegally, was ordered removed, and lost his appeal. Those facts did not vanish just because Islanders liked the outcome.
What Judge Talwani appears to have said is that ICE also had to follow the law. If the government missed the 90-day removal window and failed to place him under supervision afterward, then ICE does not get to restart the clock later and call that due process.
So yes, hooray for due process — all of it.
Due process protects the individual from the government. It does not erase the underlying immigration history, and it does not turn a final removal order into a suggestion.
Apparently “follow the law” becomes controversial only when the law finally reaches someone the Island likes. Due process matters. But pretending a removal order was merely a suggestion is the Island’s usual selective morality dressed up as principle, yet again.
Selective morality is a human trait.
If it it good for me it is good.