6 days ago
Worcester father of 4-month-old deported after ICE ‘violated his rights,' attorney says
The Worcester father of a 4-month-old child was deported to Fortaleza, Brazil, after Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials signed a deportation authorization document in his name without his permission, according to his attorney.
Samarone Alves Ferreira-De Souza, the partner of 21-year-old Augusta Clara Moura and father of her baby, was deported to Brazil from his detention center in Louisiana on May 25, said Andrew George Lattarulo, an immigration lawyer from the Chelsea-based firm, Georges Cote Law.
Ferreira-De Souza was arrested by ICE on May 7 after he honked at an undercover car with ICE agents in Worcester while he was driving to work, Lattarulo previously told MassLive. Clara Moura witnessed her mother, 40-year-old Rosane Ferreira-De Oliveira of Brazil, be arrested and detained by ICE agents one day later.
In the wake of his deportation, Ferreira-De Souza's partner, Clara Moura, has been feeling 'very sad,' Lattarulo told MassLive. She and her 4-month-old son will leave for Brazil on June 6 to be with Ferreira-De Souza, the lawyer said.
On May 25, Lattarulo received a phone call from his client in Brazil. During the call, Ferreira-De Souza said that ICE officials asked him if he would sign a form authorizing his deportation from the United States, according to Lattarulo.
The lawyer isn't sure what form ICE agents signed and said he was not provided a copy when he asked the agency.
Even though his client refused, Lattarulo stated that ICE informed Ferreira-De Souza that they had signed the document on his behalf.
'When my client questioned it, they said, 'we already signed for you. You're going back.'' Lattarulo said. 'They didn't even let him talk to us the last few days he was incarcerated.'
The attorney went on to say that Ferreira-De Souza was not provided due process before his deportation.
'ICE is trying to deport people now without immigration hearings,' Lattarulo said. 'They violated his (Ferreira-De Souza's) rights and they're doing it to everyone they can.'
ICE and the Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Monday.
Lattarulo told MassLive that his client is doing fine but has decided not to fight his deportation in court as he was tired of being in the United States.
The May 7 and May 8 ICE arrests sundered Clara Moura's family.
Now, with her leaving the country and her mother's continued detainment, her two sisters are in the custody of the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families, according to Lattarulo.
The day after Ferreira-De Souza was arrested, Clara Moura — through her lawyer — said ICE came to her home, telling her to return her partner's car and sign immigration paperwork.
She said she left her house with her baby and her 17-year-old sister, intending to comply with the order.
'That's when ICE stopped my car and told me I was under arrest,' Clara Moura said. 'Since I was with my baby, I called my mother to come take my son.'
Clara Moura also claims that ICE agents also attempted to take her baby from her but they backed down due to protests from neighbors.
When her mother arrived, ICE agents attempted and succeeded in arresting her.
Screams and chants of 'don't take the mother' erupted on Eureka Street as a crowd of more than 30 people confronted the agents. Clara Moura, along with her 17-year-old sister, both saw their mother being taken away and put into an SUV.
Worcester Police Officers arrived at the scene after 11 a.m. after 911 calls were made from ICE agents requesting police assistance and calls from people at the scene.
Body camera footage worn by Officer Juan Vallejo that was released by the Worcester Police Department on May 16 showed Ferreira-De Oliveira's teenage daughter run up to the side of the SUV's front passenger door.
Police later claimed she tried to kick the door, but it is difficult to confirm this due to the shaky footage and the large police presence.
Vallejo and other officers surrounded the girl and moved her to the ground on the street.
During the arrest, an officer yells, 'You're under arrest for disorderly conduct and disturbing the peace.'
The daughter was arrested and charged with reckless endangerment of a child, disturbing the peace, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest, according to police.
Following her arrest, she was released from custody to be with family friends along with Clara Moura, the baby and another daughter of Ferreira-De Oliveira, who is a minor.
On May 16, Worcester Police Chief Paul Saucier announced the department requested a court to dismiss the case against the daughter.
Saucier said in a statement that 'it is important to emphasize that assaulting or interfering with law enforcement officers as they carry out their duties is never acceptable.'
With Clara Moura and her son moving back to Brazil, Lattarulo said that the two other sisters may in the country. He believes that Ferreira-De Oliveira has been in contact with her family, but he does not have any further information.
The mother of three is currently being held at the Wyatt Detention Center in Central Falls, Rhode Island.
A lawyer for Ferreira-De Oliveira did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday.
ICE has ratcheted up operations in the past four months following the inauguration of President Donald Trump, and has been very active in Massachusetts.
While the Trump administration has maintained that its enforcement efforts are confined to targeting 'illegal immigrant killers, rapists and drug dealers‚' several of the arrests have been for much more minor crimes — right down to an argument over a cell phone.
Several ICE arrests were reported throughout Massachusetts in May.
On May 27, about 40 people on Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard were arrested by ICE during an operation, with the U.S. Coast Guard taking them off the island.
ICE agents were seen making traffic stops in unmarked vehicles Tuesday, May 27, MassLive's media partner, the Vineyard Gazette, reported.
On May 31, an 18-year-old student from Milford High School was arrested and detained by ICE agents while he was headed to volleyball practice. The student was identified as Marcelo Gomes Da Silva, according to WBUR.
A habeas corpus petition filed by the student's attorney reads that Gomes Da Silva arrived in the United States in 2012 through a student visa, according to WBUR. The visa has since lapsed and Gomes Da Silva 'intends apply for asylum,' WBUR reports.
In response to the filing, U.S. District Court Judge Richard Sterns released an order on Sunday afternoon stating that Gomes Da Silva must not be moved out of Massachusetts for at least 72 hours, according to WBUR.
On June 1, protesters gathered in Milford, decrying against the arrest and demanding Gomes Da Silva's return.
In a statement, Gov. Maura Healey said she was 'disturbed and outraged' by the reports of the 18-year-old's arrest.
'Yet again, local officials and law enforcement have been left in the dark with no heads up and no answers to their questions,' Healey said. 'I'm demanding that ICE provide immediate information about why he was arrested, where he is and how his due process is being protected.'
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