The 15-year-old Vineyard high schooler who was taken into custody by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers this week was ordered to be released to his family on Friday, according to court documents.
Judge Julia E. Kobick with the U.S. District Court in Boston ordered Nycolas Al Varenga Lima, who was detained by ICE on Monday along with his father Rogerio da Silva Lima, to be released by ICE and allowed to live with his adult brother while his immigration case is heard by the court.
Nycolas moved to the U.S. from Brazil in 2021 and he and his father have been living on the Vineyard, where Nycolas attends the regional high school.
Classmates at the high school staged a walkout on Friday to call for his release, and a rally to support the family was held in Menemsha on Saturday. Organizers of the Menemsha rally also announced that Nycolas was free from ICE custody.
“We’re so grateful…to be able to announce to you that Nycolas is home,” said Alexis Moreis, a tribal council member of the Wampanoag Tribe of Chappaquiddick who has been helping the family.
She urged attendees to continue providing support.
“Please don’t stop,” she said. “We need your support for Rogerio, and we want him to be with his son.”
Mr. da Silva Lima and Nycolas were out fishing with a friend on Monday off Menemsha Bight when they were approached by the U.S. Coast Guard. Officers said they received a call from a concerned citizen who said the boat appeared to be in distress.
The boat was not actually in distress when Station Menemsha officers arrived, but the officers noticed that the boat did not have a state registration, the Coast Guard said. Mr. da Silva Lima and Nycolas were later taken into custody when the Coast Guard checked to see if they had any warrants out for their arrest.
Mr. da Silva Lima and Nycolas were ordered to leave the U.S. by an immigration judge in 2023 because they did not properly immigrate to the U.S., ICE said this week. ICE has been working to remove them from the country and previously said they would remain in custody until that was done.
ICE had intended to move the father and son from the Burlington, Massachusetts detention facility to Texas, but Judge Kobick earlier this week ordered that they be kept in Massachusetts.
Mr. da Silva Lima remains in ICE custody, according to court records.
The family’s attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment Saturday.
Emma Kilbride contributed to this report.
This article appears in May 29, 2026.
It continues to amaze me that people are supporting people who are here illegally, and shocked when they are arrested.
When did it become okay to pick and choose what laws we will obey and support?
Because we are Mama Bears and when anyone does harm to children, it’s in our instincts to go after them.
Laws should align with moral instincts.
Exactly! It is truly crazy that we want our laws to provide accountability to the Trump administration, which I would LOVE to see, and yet we are completely ok with having immigration laws that are totally meaningless. The father literally had a deportation order for several years, for better or worse, that is just a legal fact, it belongs in the article, too. I don’t understand this at all, it is an upside down world where we expect SCOTUS to rule fairly and yet we are very consciously choosing that our immigration laws should not mean anything. Despite this, the same people probably wouldn’t dare think of moving to Europe or Canada without going through a legal process. The laws in those places actually mean something. I don’t understand this, someone please explain!
The vineyard would grind to a halt without immigration of workers. It doesn’t matter the classification any longer (J1, legal, illegal) and that’s the blatant reality. Demand > labor supply. Labor supply > housing supply. We’re a small country deeply divided and clearly in support of maintaining status quo. It is what it is at this point. Enjoy the sunrise and sunset, and get back to regular programming. Rules not apply here.
Yayyyy!
So relieved Nycolas is home.
This is obviously an emotional situation, especially involving a 15-year-old who has been attending our schools and built a life here. No reasonable person wants to see families separated or people treated inhumanely. It is also good news that the teenager is back on the Island with family while the legal process continues.
But the article itself also states that both the father and son were ordered removed from the U.S. by an immigration judge in 2023 because they did not properly immigrate here. That part keeps getting treated almost like a footnote when it is actually central to the entire case.
Compassion matters. Due process matters too. Allowing the son to remain in Massachusetts with family while the legal process continues seems reasonable and humane.
At some point, though, the Island also has to recognize that the rest of the country does not simply ignore immigration law because a case feels emotional or personal. Martha’s Vineyard can sometimes become insulated from that broader reality.
And pretending there was no underlying immigration violation at all does not help an honest discussion.
People should have meaningful conversations with coast gaurds around snd discuss ethics. Without ethics what are we… seriously
Coast guard is a branch of the U.S. Military. To go and discuss U.S. law with them would be the same as going to speak with the Generals who are running the Iran War. you are not going to change anything.