BOSTON — ICE’s bid to move an 18-year-old Milford High School student from the Bay State to another location just a day before he’s due to be in a Massachusetts immigration court has been blocked by a federal judge.

According to court filings, lawyers for the government asked U.S. District Judge George O’Toole if they could transfer Marcelo Gomes Da Silva out of Massachusetts, a request which came after the judge had ordered the government not to attempt to move the high schooler without providing him at least 48 hours notice.

Though most court filings in the case are sealed and their contents can only be gleaned, online dockets show a motion for “permission to transfer” and a “notice of transfer” were filed with the court in the name of ICE’s acting Field Office Director for Boston, Patricia Hyde, as well as acting ICE Director Todd Lyons and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.

A following document added to the docket, according to its title, denied the government’s motion to transfer him out of state but left room for an appeal of the ruling.

Lawyers for Gomes Da Silva confirmed to the Herald that the government’s motion to move him had been denied on Wednesday.

His immigration attorney, Robin Nice of the law firm McHaffey & Nice, said her client will ask the immigration court to release him from ICE custody on bond during a hearing scheduled for Thursday at 1 p.m. in Chelmsford.

According to Nice, Gomes Da Silva lawfully entered the U.S. when he was just 7-years-old, and has since developed deep roots in his community. He is active in his church, a member of his high school’s band and volleyball team, and is normally “surrounded by friends, teachers, and mentors who care deeply about him.”

Gomes Da Silva is currently in federal custody after he was arrested by ICE agents on Saturday following a traffic stop.

Lyons, during a Monday press conference, said immigration officials were looking for the Milford High student’s father, who they allege is subject to removal over past traffic violations, and that they found Gomes Da Silva driving his dad’s car and took him into custody.

These sorts of “collateral arrests” Lyons explained, are a consequence of agents working in the field instead of the state’s jails or police stations. Agents out and about in a community, Lyons said, cannot simply ignore a person who they encounter who they suspect is subject to removal.

In an emotional video message shared with the Herald by Gomes Da Silva’s attorneys, his loved ones issued a plea to ICE, saying they just want to see him brought home.

“I love my son. We need Marcelo back home. It’s no family without him. We love America. Please, bring my son back,” his father, João Paulo Gomes Pereira, said in the video.

The Milford High junior, his lawyers say, “has no criminal history” and is no threat to the only place he’s known as home. They hope to convince the judge there is simply no need to keep him in custody.

“His strong community ties, consistent academic achievement, and involvement in positive extracurricular and faith-based activities underscore the fact that he poses no danger to the community and is not a flight risk. We are hopeful the court will recognize this, and grant his release on bond so Marcelo can return to his family and community,” Nice told the Herald.

His arrest and continued detention, she said, doesn’t serve any public safety purpose.

“The actions by ICE do not make the community safer, they just sow fear among immigrants and their loved ones,” she said.

ICE did not return a request for comment on the judge’s denial of their motion to move Gomes Da Silva.

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