Two teenage brothers from the Republic of Congo were living their version of the American dream. They were leaders on their high school basketball team and involved in their local church. The elder was weeks away from graduating.
That dream was thrown into upheaval this month when the brothers were detained by ICE agents who had waited outside their guardians’ home in Diamondhead, Miss. Israel Makoka, 18, and Max Makoka, 15, were leaving to take the bus to school when they were arrested and later moved to separate facilities, in Louisiana and Texas, where they remained on Wednesday.
Their detention has crushed the school community in their conservative small town.
“I’m heartbroken over what’s taking place,” said Stacy Campbell, a history teacher at the brothers’ school, Hancock High in Kiln, Miss., who knows the Makokas. “They definitely do not deserve this. Some of the students are just starting to talk about it, and they are very worried. They want their classmates back at school.”
The Makoka brothers entered the United States legally on F-1 student visas to attend the Piney Woods School., a prominent, historically Black boarding institution. But they felt unhappy there last year, so they transferred to a public school in their host family’s neighborhood.
Before the teenagers transferred to Hancock High in August, a local lawyer advised their host family to become their legal guardians so that they could remain in the country. A judge granted the guardianship request.
The staff at Piney Woods did not warn the family that the teenagers’ transfer to a public school would affect their immigration status, regardless of guardianship, said Amy Maldonado, the immigration lawyer representing the brothers.
Despite doing what they could to follow the law, said Gail Baptiste, one of their guardians, nobody knew until the teenagers’ arrest last week that moving from Piney Woods had nullified their status. Hancock High was not allowed to host people on student visas, and the switch got the attention of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The brothers are now facing deportation.
“The kids did nothing — they did nothing at all — and we did not do anything intentionally,” Ms. Baptiste said. She later added, “We hope we’re given a chance to set this right, for their sake.”
Ms. Baptiste remembered that when she tried to show her guardianship documents to immigration agents last week, one told her, “This is worth nothing.” An officer also told her that someone had called “and reported that there were two African kids at Hancock.”
Government documents indicate that the older brother, Israel, was targeted by ICE agents because government officials believed his student visa expired in 2024. He entered the United States in 2023 under an F-1 visa, a temporary student visa, as a minor. Mr. Makoka only recently became a legal adult — his birthday was in March.
His younger brother, Max, entered the country under the same visa a year later. In a statement, a spokesperson from the Department of Homeland Security said on Tuesday evening that the brothers had “violated their student visas by failing to attend classes at Piney Woods School.”
“They were granted the opportunity to participate in a student exchange program,” the statement said. “However, they failed to attend that school. Because they violated their visas, they are subject to removal.”
Ms. Maldonado said that she submitted a motion for Israel to be released on bond and will petition for Max to be released to his guardians. She added on Wednesday that the brothers would reapply for F-1 status.
“In a situation like this, where everyone was trying to do the right thing, there’s no need to handcuff the children and drag them off,” Ms. Maldonado said. She added, “These are kids that do not need to be deported on taxpayer expense. They just want to finish the school year.”
In its mass deportation campaign, the Trump administration has been particularly aggressive toward people in the United States on student visas. Last year, the administration sought to cancel more than a thousand student visas. International students were given no reasons for the cancellations in some cases, while in others there had been documented minor infractions.
At the same time, U.S. officials have arrested college students for their involvement in pro-Palestinian protests, saying they had undermined the U.S. foreign policy goal of lessening antisemitism.
Community leaders and teachers at Hancock High School said that friends of the brothers have grieved their absence and that students have become concerned for their well-being.
Conner Entriken, the boys’ basketball coach, said that the Makoka brothers were good students who had a strong work ethic and commitment to their team and community. In the short time they attended Hancock, he said, they became involved and loved by many others.
Nothing speaks more to their character, he said, than when they joined an extra run required of teammates who had lost a drill at practice even though the brothers had been on the winning side.
“Max and Israel really took charge of that to show that they were supporting them and then the team did it without asking,” Mr. Entriken said. “You’re not going to meet two better men, period.”
Kirsten Noyes contributed research.
Christina Morales is a national reporter for The Times.
The post They Left for the School Bus. ICE Picked Them Up Instead. appeared first on New York Times.
