The Department of Homeland Security has been slammed for detaining a middle school boy in what appears to be a violation of its own stated policy.
The department, headed by ICE Barbie Kristi Noem, alleged on X that an unnamed 13-year-old Brazilian national was arrested and transferred to a detention center 500 miles from his family because he has “an EXTENSIVE rap sheet.”
“Remember when these accounts seemed legitimate??” wrote a Michigan-based critic of DHS’s justification, which did not include proof of convictions. “We’re now at the point where I wonder if I’m being tricked by fake accounts… Nope… just our government acting like children. I’ve seen more professionalism at our local pizza shop run by [high school] students.”
Shameful @BostonGlobe—lying about public safety threats. Not only was this individual in possession of a firearm and a 5-7 inch knife when arrested, he also had an EXTENSIVE rap sheet including:-Violent assault with a dangerous weapon-Battery-Breaking and entering… pic.twitter.com/BnLm7ZHfPD
— Homeland Security (@DHSgov) October 14, 2025
The official DHS account on X accused The Boston Globe, a newspaper that plainly laid out what occurred, of shamefully “lying about public safety threats.” However, DHS and its spokeswoman, Tricia McLaughlin, have provided no proof that anything written by the Globe was factually inaccurate.
The Globe’s article about the arrest says ICE detained the child after an encounter with cops in the Boston suburb of Everett, Massachusetts. It reported the boy was detained on Thursday and was quickly taken to an ICE facility in Winchester, Virginia, where he tearfully called his mom on Friday, complaining of small meals and of being forced to sleep “on concrete with an aluminum sheet as a blanket.”
Homeland Security claims the boy—said by family to be a 7th grader at the Albert N. Parlin School—has past arrests for violent assault with a dangerous weapon, battery, destruction of property, and breaking and entering.
Immigration officials did not say if the boy had ever been convicted of a crime, nor did they provide proof to back up their claims—omissions that critics have seized on, especially since McLaughlin has repeatedly been busted for lying about arrests.
“So was he arrested and sent to a detention facility?” responded one commenter to DHS’s post criticizing the Globe. “Where’s the lie?”
Another critic posted, “Calling a middle schooler’s sealed juvenile record ‘extensive’ is wild even for government fiction.”
The child’s arrest—and Homeland Security’s touting of it—is a stunning reversal from last month, when McLaughlin declared in a statement to MassLive that “ICE does NOT target juveniles or children.” That was in response to a 16-year-old being detained in Massachusetts.
McLaughlin added that “ICE had no knowledge of the individual’s age” when it arrested the teenager last month, suggesting that it was a mistake. It is unclear if McLaughlin was incorrect about ICE policy in September or if a change to permit the targeting of minors has occurred since then.
ICE did not immediately respond to a request for comment, nor did it answer questions from the Daily Beast seeking clarity about its policy regarding minors.
A GoFundMe launched by the 13-year-old’s family to help with legal expenses had raised $17,000 as of Tuesday afternoon.
“Our 13-year-old child was taken from us by ICE agents in Everett, Massachusetts, even though the police were preparing to release him safely to his mother,” reads the fundraiser, written in English, Portuguese, and Spanish by Josiele Silva. “Instead, ICE arrived unexpectedly and transferred him… separating him from his family, including his little brother, who keeps asking when his big brother will come home. We are heartbroken and doing everything we can to bring our son back to Massachusetts, where he belongs—with his family, his school, and his community.”
The post DHS Slammed Over Justification for Detaining Middle Schooler appeared first on The Daily Beast.
