The U.S. Coast Guard has released more details about the agency’s involvement in handing over a father and son to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials this week.
The Coast Guard received a call from a woman Monday morning who said a boat off Menemsha Bight appeared to be in distress, Lieut. Quinn LeCain, a public affairs officer with Sector Southeastern New England, told the Gazette Friday.
Station Menemsha was dispatched to check on the boat and found Rogerio da Silva Lima, his 15-year-old son Nycolas Al Varenga Lima and another man who had taken the father and son out fishing.
Lieutenant LeCain said that when the Coast Guardsmen arrived, the trio was not actually in distress, but the officers did note the boat lacked the required state registration number.
“That’s the equivalent of a car not having a license plate on it,” said Lieutenant LeCain.
The lack of registration then started turning the wheels of a law enforcement inspection that resulted in Mr. da Silva Lima and Nycolas being taken to Woods Hole and put into the custody of ICE.
Lieutenant LeCain said that after the well-being check, the Menemsha officers returned to the Chilmark station to prepare for a law enforcement boarding of the boat. He said that the Coast Guard is required to check if any of the people on the boat have warrants every time the Coast Guard boards.
In this case, Mr. da Silva Lima had an arrest warrant for inadmissibility, according to Lieutenant LeCain. The Coast Guard then notified ICE. ICE asked the Coast Guard to detain Mr. da Silva Lima and transport him to the mainland.
“The Coast Guard provides law enforcement assistance to partner agencies as one of its core missions,” Lieutenant LeCain said.
The Menemsha officers decided to bring Nycolas with his father to prevent separating the two and leaving the minor with an unrelated adult.
The family was brought to Woods Hole by the Menemsha station officers and transferred into ICE custody. ICE then brought them to Burlington, where almost all of the ICE detainees in Massachusetts are processed.
A rally to urge the government to release Mr. da Silva Lima and his son is planned to take place in Menemsha on Saturday at 1 p.m.
The event is being organized by MV LUCE, an immigrant rights’ organization, the Wampanoag Tribe of Chappaquiddick, MV 4a Project, Showing Up for Racial Justice – MV, Martha’s Vineyard Educators Association, Tomahawk Charters, MV Indivisible and Sassafras Earth Education.
Members of that coalition have criticized the Coast Guard for being involved in an immigration arrest.
“The community is outraged by the Coast Guard’s decision to hand over a 15-year-old minor and his father to ICE,” said Alexis Moreis, a tribal council member with the Wampanoag Tribe of Chappaquiddick. “The community depends on the Coast Guard for search and rescue. Their immigration enforcement role undermines their first responder position and puts us all at risk because people are now fearful of calling for help. We demand the immediate release of both father and son.”
The Coast Guard decided to release the details of the detention to inform the public on the agency’s role in the arrest.
Lieutenant LeCain said that Mr. da Silva Lima and Nycolas’ ethnicity did not factor into the decision to board the vessel.
“The Coast Guard doesn’t target anyone based on ethnicity,” he said.
This article appears in May 29, 2026.
I call BS
Its no different than driving a car without an inspection sticker or license plate. If you give law enforcement a ‘reason’ to investigate then you are putting youself at risk of being discovered for something other than a moving violation. Its the proverbial ‘opening pandora’s box’.
I encourage people to watch the documentary The Jump.
Those sailors did what they had to do.