Massachusetts man reunited with family after month at Texas ICE detention center
By Tiffany Chan
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MALBORO, Maryland (WBZ) — A Marlboro man was reunited with his wife and daughter after a month at an ICE detention center at the Texas border.
“I thought that I would never be able to hug my daughter or kiss my wife. Go back to my home, to my friends, to my church,” Lucas Amaral told WBZ-TV.
Arrested by ICE agents The 29-year-old from Brazil described that fear after being pulled over by ICE agents on his way to work in January. His lawyer said Amaral was mistaken for another man, but because he overstayed his visa, officers arrested him.
“What makes me confused and shows me this is a miscarriage of justice is that they ignored him when they knew he wasn’t the guy they were looking for,” Amaral’s immigration lawyer, Eloa Celedon said.
That’s when the Amaral family says the nightmare began – being shuffled from jail to jail and eventually a plane to the Texas border.
“The guard just told him pack up your things, you’re leaving,” his wife Suyanne Amaral said as she was translating for him. “He didn’t know where he was going until he was inside the plane.”
He ended up at an ICE detention center with hundreds of others.
“One of the worst places” “It’s one of the worst places because there are gang members there. There are people who are doing atrocious things,” his lawyer described.
Celedon argued that Amaral has no criminal record and was able to get him out on bond and reunited with his family.
“It was so surreal. We ran to each other, and I hugged him,” his wife said of the moment they saw each other again at Logan Airport. While it’s a relief, his future is uncertain as President Trump promised to crackdown on immigration.
“He’s really believing that something good will happen because we have God and we also have Eloa who is a very, very good lawyer,” Suyanne said.
The family’s lawyer has this advice for anyone – citizen or not.
“Had Lucas known he was being interrogated and he had the right to remain silent and he had the right to have counsel at that moment – he wasn’t afforded that right,” Celedon said. “People need to know they have rights.”
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