Pressley Urges ICE to Free 13-Year-Old U.S. Citizen Held in Custody

Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) is demanding the release of a 13-year-old Everett, Mass., resident held by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement after a local arrest on Oct. 9, calling the case “alarming” and the conditions “inhumane.”

In a statement on Oct. 14, Pressley said ICE “abduct[ed] a 13-year-old child” and transported him more than 500 miles to a juvenile facility in Virginia “without his family, lawyer or a court knowing,” alleging the boy was left with inadequate food and sleeping on concrete with an aluminum blanket while recovering from a broken foot.

Everett police arrested the seventh-grader at a bus stop after a “credible tip” that he threatened another student; officials said a double-sided knife was recovered. The teen was then transferred to ICE custody, which has fueled protests and sharp criticism from local leaders and immigrant-rights groups. Black Enterprise+1

Federal officials have pushed back on local accounts. DHS has suggested the boy has ties to criminal activity, while Everett’s mayor has denied the city “called ICE,” underscoring a widening dispute over who notified federal authorities and why the child was moved out of state.

Republicans have never been serious about the care, health, & future of all our children.

They want to ship middle schoolers to prison & rip them from their families while protecting predators like Trump & Epstein.

We need real, sustainable solutions to keep our kids safe. pic.twitter.com/c8r5z1vZKG

— Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (@RepPressley) October 19, 2025

Separately, a DHS communications official drew scrutiny for public disclosures about the juvenile, which legal experts say may have violated confidentiality laws.

Pressley’s intervention comes as House Republicans advance crime legislation affecting youth in Washington, D.C., including measures to allow children as young as 14 to be tried as adults, bills she condemned on the House floor as harmful and counterproductive.

Her office has also highlighted community-based safety alternatives amid a prolonged federal shutdown now at day 20.

The boy’s legal status remains contested in public reporting; an attorney has said the family is from Brazil and seeking asylum, while some federal statements imply otherwise.

What is not in dispute is that a Massachusetts middle-schooler is being held in a Virginia juvenile facility under ICE authority, a move Pressley says should be reversed immediately: “Children deserve compassion and care, not detention.”