Last Thursday, 21-year-old Augusta Clara, her three-month-old baby, and Clara’s 17-year-old sister had just begun driving away from their home when they were stopped by ICE agents. The three of them and Ferreira de Oliveira, who entered the United States in 2022, are part of a Brazilian immigrant family who live together in the greater Boston area. (The family members do not all share the same immigration status.)

Ferreira de Oliveira, who is 40 years old, was still at their nearby home when she received a phone call from one of her daughters, who said ICE had pulled them over and were threatening to arrest Clara.

Ferreira de Oliveira’s frightened daughter told her mother that she needed to leave the home now and come meet them on the street, because ICE was telling them that if they arrested Clara, they weren’t allowed to leave the baby in the hands of a minor. So, the feds insisted, grandma needed to rush over to take custody of the baby.