Gaspar DaSilva Returning to Maine After Nearly Seven Months in ICE Custody

A Bridgton man who spent nearly seven months in federal immigration detention after being pulled over during a January ICE enforcement operation in Portland has been released and granted lawful permanent resident status.

Marcos Gaspar Da-Silva, 32, was released Thursday from immigration detention in Arizona following a Wednesday hearing in which an immigration judge granted him lawful permanent residency. He and his wife, Alessia Gaspar Da Silva, are expected to arrive at the Portland International Jetport at approximately 9:30 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 16.

His release concludes a case that became increasingly controversial in Maine because Da-Silva’s detention did not stem from a criminal charge or known outstanding warrant.

Instead, Da-Silva was taken into ICE custody Jan. 20 after federal immigration agents stopped the truck he was driving on Franklin Street in Portland during the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement operation known as “Operation Catch of the Day.”

According to his wife, who said she was speaking with Da-Silva by video call when the encounter began, agents initially told her husband they were searching for an individual with an outstanding warrant.

Da-Silva told the agents he did not have a warrant and said the Guatemalan day laborer riding with him did not have one either, according to Maine Public. Agents then questioned the men about whether they were legally in the country. Da-Silva told them that he had a pending asylum case.

Both men were then taken into custody, according to his wife’s account.

ICE did not answer questions from the Portland Press Herald at the time about why Da-Silva specifically had been detained.

A Maine State Bureau of Identification background check reviewed by the newspaper returned no criminal record for Da-Silva.

The circumstances put Da-Silva at odds with the way federal officials initially characterized the January enforcement operation.

The Department of Homeland Security said the Maine operation was aimed at criminal illegal aliens and public-safety threats. Da-Silva’s case, however, involved a Brazilian asylum seeker with no criminal record found in the state background check and an immigration case already pending before federal authorities.

From Brazilian Attorney to Maine Contractor

Da-Silva previously worked as an attorney in Brazil before coming to the United States in 2021 after what he said were threats in his home country.

He sought asylum after arriving in the United States and was permitted to pursue his claim after immigration officials determined he had established a credible fear of persecution, according to published reports.

Da-Silva eventually settled in Bridgton, where he worked as a general contractor.

He married Alessia, a U.S. citizen, in 2023. In 2024, she filed a petition to sponsor him for a green card, and that application remained under consideration when ICE agents arrested him in January.

His pending immigration proceedings did not prevent ICE from taking him into custody.

What followed was nearly seven months of detention that took Da-Silva far from his Maine home.

He was initially held in Massachusetts before being transferred repeatedly through the federal immigration detention system, including facilities in Louisiana and Arizona.

His wife told Maine Public in January that the transfers sometimes made it difficult for both his family and his attorney to determine where he was being held.

At one point, she said his information temporarily disappeared from ICE’s online detainee locator system.

Wife Took Fight to Collins’ Biddeford Office

Only days before her husband’s release, Alessia Gaspar Da Silva, 50, of Bridgton, took her fight publicly to the office of Republican U.S. Sen. Susan Collins.

Gaspar Da Silva was among the speakers at an Aug. 11 anti-ICE protest outside Collins’ Biddeford office, where demonstrators criticized the senator over federal funding for immigration enforcement and called for ICE to leave Maine or be abolished.

At the time of the demonstration, Marcos remained in ICE custody in Arizona.

Gaspar Da Silva used her husband’s detention as an example of what protesters described as problems with the administration’s immigration enforcement campaign.

Her appearance outside Collins’ office came just two days before the immigration court decision that ultimately cleared the way for her husband’s release.

Allegations About Conditions in Detention

Da-Silva’s family and supporters also raised concerns throughout his detention about his treatment inside federal facilities.

His wife described poor sanitation, inadequate access to clothing and hygiene supplies, overcrowding and difficulties communicating with his attorney after he was transferred out of New England.

In January, she told Maine Public that her husband reported being held at one location where there were approximately 20 beds for roughly 50 detainees and insufficient toilet facilities.

Da-Silva’s supporters later raised additional concerns about his health and medical treatment while he was held at the Central Arizona Florence Correctional Complex.

Federal officials have disputed broader allegations that ICE detention facilities fail to provide appropriate medical care or sanitary conditions, maintaining that facilities are subject to federal detention standards.

U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree’s office also became involved in Da-Silva’s case, contacting federal authorities about his detention and medical care and advocating for his immigration petition to move forward.

A Different Ending Than His January Arrest Suggested

Da-Silva’s case began during a federal operation promoted as an effort to arrest dangerous immigration offenders.

Seven months later, it ended not with his deportation or prosecution, but with an immigration judge granting him lawful permanent residency.

That distinction is significant.

At the time ICE agents stopped him in Portland, Da-Silva had no criminal record identified by a Maine state background check, had a pending asylum case, and had already been sponsored for permanent residency by his U.S.-citizen wife. ICE did not publicly explain to the Press Herald why he was selected for detention.

His release also comes as federal courts continue to wrestle with the Trump administration’s detention policies and the extent to which immigrants held by ICE are entitled to bond hearings while their immigration cases proceed.

Second High-Profile Maine Release in August

Da-Silva is the second person with significant Maine ties to be released from ICE custody this month following a high-profile public campaign.

Maine Medical Center nurse Debora Kapisha was released from federal immigration custody Aug. 6 after her detention prompted demonstrations by nurses, immigration activists and other supporters.

Kapisha was detained at Boston’s Logan International Airport. Federal immigration officials said she had overstayed the visa on which she originally entered the country, while her supporters said she had a pending asylum case and authorization to work in the United States.

Da-Silva’s case now has a more permanent resolution.

The immigration judge’s decision granting him lawful permanent resident status means that when Da-Silva walks through the Portland International Jetport Sunday night, he will return to Maine not as an asylum seeker awaiting the outcome of his case, but as a lawful permanent resident of the United States.

For Alessia Gaspar Da Silva, who stood outside Collins’ Biddeford office just days earlier calling attention to her husband’s detention, the arrival will also mark the end of a nearly seven-month effort to bring him home.