BOSTON — Congresswoman Lori Trahan, who represents Westford, accused federal immigration officials of holding a 14-year-old girl from her district “hostage,” in an attempt to target her father for deportation.
In a statement issued by Trahan that evening, the congresswoman said a federal judge issued an order to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on March 11, which said the teenager must be returned to Massachusetts and reunited with her family.
“This is the right outcome, and it could not have come soon enough,” Trahan’s statement said. “I want to thank her attorney, Andrew Lattarulo, for his tireless and swift work to secure her release. I also want to thank Senator Elizabeth Warren, Senator Edward J. Markey and Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley for standing up immediately and fighting alongside us. This is what it looks like when we show up for our constituents.”
According to Trahan, the girl has no criminal history, but was detained by ICE agents in Marlborough on March 10 and taken out of state. The congresswoman called the action “an apparent overnight attempt to use her as a hostage to coerce her father into turning himself in for deportation.”
“I am furious. This is not immigration enforcement. It’s the deliberate targeting of a child to inflict maximum pain on her family,” Trahan said in an earlier statement that day. “I am demanding her immediate release. She should be returned home to her family this afternoon and able to go back to school tomorrow. In the meantime, DHS (Department of Homeland Security) must abandon its clearly adopted policy of using children as bait to detain and deport family members and instead focus its efforts on violent criminals.”
Lattarulo and attorney Gabriela Cerretani of Georges Cote Law LLP filed a civil lawsuit seeking the girl’s release on March 10, arguing she had no criminal history and her mother had recently passed away.
According to the court case, Lattarulo and Cerretani filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus on behalf of the girl (referred to as B.E.S. in the case), who they said was arrested by ICE in a Marlborough parking lot on March 10.
The court case said the girl was taken out of Massachusetts to New York following her arrest, where she was held until Judge Leo Sorokin ordered her return to Massachusetts, which the order said must be done no later than 9 a.m. March 12.
Sorokin’s order said that the girl should be released to the custody of her aunt, once the woman shows a valid driver’s license, proves her relationship to the girl, proves that she is a U.S. citizen and that she intends to petition a Massachusetts Probate Court for legal guardianship of the girl.
In response to the lawsuit, DHS Acting Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis released a statement, in which she said ICE agents rescued her from suspected gang members.
“On March 11, ICE conducted a targeted operation to arrest Igor Jose Cordeiro Ferreira, 28, and Lucas Da Silva Senes De Almeida, 25, two illegal aliens from Brazil and suspected Primeiro Comando da Massachusetts gang members,” Bis’ statement said. “With the men was a 14-year-old girl who did not identify Cordeiro Ferreira or DeAlmeida as legal guardians. Upon further investigation, special agents confirmed that the teen had no familial relationship to either individual. Based on this information, and to ensure the safety and security of the minor, she was placed in the custody of Health and Human Services, Office of Refugee Resettlement within hours of the initial encounter. As standard protocol, she will remain in ORR custody pending the identification of legal guardians.”
Gov. Maura Healey also issued a similar statement to Trahan on March 11, in which she denounced ICE for detaining the girl and demanded that immigration officials comply with the judge’s order.
“It is absolutely unacceptable that ICE detained a 14-year-old girl in a church parking lot in Marlborough and abruptly moved her out of Massachusetts,” Healey’s statement said. “This is a child. ICE never should have detained her like this and separated her from her support system and legal counsel. And it shouldn’t have taken a federal court order for her to be returned. ICE needs to immediately follow this order and return her to Massachusetts with her family.”
The incident comes less than a week after Healey sent a letter to outgoing DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons, demanding that ICE has one week to provide complete and accurate information on every person arrested in Massachusetts since January 2025, including the identity of each individual, the legal basis for each arrest, case status, detention location, court jurisdiction and upcoming hearing dates.
In response to Healey’s letter, Lyons, along with U.S. attorney for the District of Massachusetts Leah Foley responded with a joint statement.
“Isn’t it rich that the very governor who refuses to share information with federal law enforcement is now demanding information on ICE arrests?” the statement said. “The truth is every single alien arrested during Operations Patriot and Patriot 2.0 was in violation of US Immigration law. The majority of those had committed serious crimes in the United States or in their native countries. Most were released due to local and state jurisdictions refusing to cooperate with ICE.”
One Response
We can all feel safer in Westford with Trahan watching those ICE agents.