Josiana Cruz Silva has been crying and praying since her husband was plucked off a Plymouth street by ICE agents last month.
After being taken to Burlington, and then back to Plymouth, Daniel Nogueira Capuzzo, 39, was moved to Arizona. Now he’s being held in Colorado, where, Silva said, her husband is surrounded by criminals. Capuzzo speaks no English. His wife, who is 37, worries about what might happen to him.
“These have been hard days, but God is watching over me, is watching over him,” she said, sobbing.
The Brazilian couple have lived in Plymouth for about a year, she said, and are seeking asylum. Both work — he’s a landscaper, she cleans houses. They have no children.
When federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents descended on Plymouth two weeks ago, local officials were surprised and chagrined – they didn’t know ICE was coming. They weren’t told who, if anyone, was arrested.
It turns out that an unknown number of immigrants were taken into custody – including Capuzzo – during May and early June. He was arrested on May 14.
The ICE agents’ presence here triggered a protracted and passionate online debate between supporters of President Trump’s hardline immigration policies and opponents who lashed out at ICE for allegedly terrorizing immigrants working and living peacefully in Plymouth.
On May 30, a North Plymouth resident on her way to work confronted agents on Standish Avenue near Perry’s market – just up the street from Hedge Elementary School, whose student population includes a large number of immigrants, many of whom are Brazilian.
“Can I ask what you’re doing here?” Lori Fitzpatrick said as she recorded video with her phone.
“Don’t worry about it,” an agent responded.
“I am worrying about it,” Fitzpatrick said.
ICE did let the police know of its intentions when they returned on June 6 looking for a man facing deportation from Florida. They found him hiding in Vine Hills Cemetery, where he allegedly struck several headstones. But the agency did not say who the man was, or what he did to prompt deportation proceedings.
Since the Plymouth raids, town officials have expressed their unease and concern over ICE’s aggressive actions, which left many residents feeling angry and scared.
“I know this is an issue that divides a lot of people,” said newly elected Select Board member Deb Iaquinto at a recent board meeting. “As a former ESL (English as a Second Language) teacher, I taught many immigrants over the years. The immigrants I know don’t deserve that kind of mistreatment.”
The incidents also drew renewed scrutiny of the Plymouth County Correctional Facility off Long Pond Road — the only jail in Massachusetts that houses people on behalf of ICE. Most of the detainees being held there appear to have been arrested elsewhere, according to local police.
Plymouth County Sheriff’s Department officials, who oversee the jail, say they don’t know why or where the inmates were arrested. That’s not information they request or routinely obtain, according to a spokesperson for Sheriff Joseph McDonald.
But the sheriff’s department does know how many detainees it’s holding for ICE — and the number has exploded.
Since Trump was sworn in for a second term, vowing to remove all undocumented people from the United States, the number of inmates held at Plymouth for ICE has more than doubled.
Between January and May 27, 2024, the Plymouth facility held a total 988 inmates on behalf of ICE, though not all at the same time.
Between January and May 27, 2025, the total number was 2,110.
On May 27, for example, the jail held 956 people — 448 of whom were in the custody of ICE. The remaining 508 were either sentenced or waiting for a court date on county or state charges having nothing to do with immigration, according to spokesperson Karen Barry. The jail could hold up to 526 ICE detainees at a time, she said.
The sheriff’s office has had contracts with the federal government for decades — the most recent five-year contract was signed last September — despite a steady stream of calls from immigrant-rights activists and Massachusetts Senators Ed Markey and Elizabeth Warren to discontinue the relationship.
They cited reports that the unit — which is separate from the rest of the jail — was overcrowded and unsanitary.
The jail is routinely inspected by state, federal and private agencies, which have found no major areas of concern, Barry said.
After the recent ICE raids, groups opposed to the federal enforcement actions redoubled their efforts, urging McDonald to stop holding people for ICE.
On June 5, about 175 protesters gathered at the jail’s entrance road to protest the housing of immigrants in Plymouth.
“I urge the sheriff’s department to end the ICE agreement now and to stop contributing to the kidnapping of our community members off our streets,” said Fitzpatrick, who attended the rally.
But McDonald said he believes it is his duty “to work cooperatively with all law enforcement agencies to ensure a safe community for everyone who lives, works and visits here.”
“I don’t determine who is sent to us, the duration of their stay, or when they are to be released,” he added. “Our agency’s mission is to provide transportation and humane care and custody for the men sent to us by the courts and federal authorities. Our agency does not assist ICE with its enforcement or apprehension in the community.”
The federal government pays $215 a day per inmate for their stay in Plymouth. Some opponents of the practice believe the sheriff’s department keeps the money.
But all of it, estimated this year at more than $30 million, goes back to the state’s general fund, Barry said.
The jail’s budget, projected to be $70 million next year, is funded entirely by the state.
For Josiana Cruz Silva, her predicament would be slightly less stressful if her husband had been sent to the Plymouth jail. She would at least be able to visit him several times a week, and they could speak by phone for as long as they liked at no expense.
But for the time being, she takes comfort in the support of her fellow churchgoers — members of a local Brazilian church who have been bringing her food. They also helped her hire a lawyer for her husband, who had a hearing Tuesday in a Colorado immigration court.
He was denied bail, she said, and has another hearing scheduled for next month. But she has run out of money to pay the lawyer.
“It’s been hard, but thank God, God always puts good people in our way,” she said.
Andrea Estes can be reached at andrea@plymouthindependent.org.
Fred Thys can be reached at fred@plymouthindependent.org.