MILFORD, MASSACHUSETTS − Immigrants in this blue-collar town say they are living in constant fear of ICE raids that have rounded up 1,500 undocumented people throughout Massachusetts.
Among those arrested was Marcelo Gomes da Silva an 11th grader at Milford High School, whose story has drawn widespread attention for the way it throws into stark relief immigration-enforcement tensions that exist all over the country.
"There's been very high levels of anxiety in the community about immigration enforcement for many months," says Milford High School Principal Joshua Otlin.
Gomes da Silva's family, who brought him to the United States from Brazil at the age of 7, are just some of the thousands of immigrants from Latin America whose arrival has reshaped Milford in the last two decades. And now their community is in the crosshairs of President Donald Trump's aggressive deportation efforts.
The fear is pervasive throughout the community, says Reggie Lima, a Brazilian American who on a recent day wore a Trump hat in Milford's Padaria Brasil Bakery.
