The impacts of immigration policy under President Donald Trump are being felt by many across the country.

In a special presentation Thursday, NBC10 Boston focused on some of the faces of those affected in Massachusetts.

Marcelo Gomes Da Silva

Eighteen-year-old Marcelo Gomes da Silva has spent the past month trying to adjust to life back in Milford, Massachusetts, after being detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in late May.

Picked up on his way to volleyball practice, the Brazilian native became a prominent figure in the immigration debate playing out across Massachusetts and the country.

Now, as he prepares for his senior year of high school, Gomes Da Silva says he's learning to live under the fear of deportation.

"I just kind of decided that I have to grow up faster than people that are my age," he said in an interview with NBC10 Boston. "So I just took it upon myself to take things more seriously."

Marcelo Gomes Da Silva described disturbing conditions at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Burlington as the agency continues to detain young men around his age.

Gomes Da Silva was taken into ICE custody on May 31 during what the agency described as an attempt to locate his undocumented father, who had previously been reported for reckless driving. The teenager denies those claims.

"ICE is just cowards for saying that my dad was driving 100 miles an hour in residential areas," he said. "They just pulled me over because they saw I was an immigrant and took me."

A federal judge prevented the government from transferring him out of state, but he still spent nearly a week in a processing facility in Burlington. The time he spent there left a lasting impression on him and his outlook on what it means to be an immigrant in America.

Marcelo Gomes Da Silva, who was detained by immigration authorities on his way to volleyball practice this weekend, was reunited with loved ones after being released on bond Thursday.

"I literally can't mess up right now," Gomes Da Silva said. "It's definitely, like, a lot of weight on my shoulders, but you just got to keep going."

The experience has also sparked a sense of duty.

"I definitely think I have some responsibility to do whatever I can to help immigrants and help people that were in prison with me," he said.

Since his release, Gomes Da Silva has met with Massachusetts leaders, including Gov. Maura Healey, and has been outspoken about his case and immigration policy more broadly. At home, though, he spends most of his time reflecting on what's next.

"I've always wanted to be a plumber," he said. "But since this happened, I want to get involved with things that have to do with politics, or things like an immigration lawyer, or just things with immigration."

That future remains uncertain as he awaits the outcome of a deportation hearing scheduled for October. Until then, he says he finds strength in faith — and in the possibility that his case might help others.

"No immigrant truly feels free right now," he said. "But you just got to keep going and praising God, praying."

Rumeysa Ozturk

Rumeysa Ozturk, the Tufts University PhD student who was detained by ICE in March over an op-ed piece she co-authored in her campus newspaper, has largely stayed out of the public eye since her release in May.

But her case has continued to resonate in the legal and academic communities — raising alarms about the treatment of international students, freedom of speech, and government surveillance.

"She has become a symbol," said Mahsa Khanbabai, Ozturk's immigration attorney. "I'm deeply protective of her, as is the entire legal team. We have over 20 lawyers working on her case and trying to provide support in whatever way she needs."

ICE has used a controversial website to go after certain activist students and professors for deportation.

Ozturk spent more than six weeks in ICE detention in Louisiana. Masked agents in plain clothes surrounded her outside her home in Somerville, detaining her in an incident captured on video on March 25.

Khanbabai was initially unable to locate her client.

"I just don't know how anyone would get over being surrounded by masked men who don't identify themselves, and who just grab at you and take you away in an unmarked car and don't tell you anything," Khanbabai said.

Federal authorities have not formally charged Ozturk with any crime. The government's case relied on a Tufts student newspaper article calling on Tufts to divest from companies with ties to Israel — her byline appeared along with those of three other authors.

The Trump administration has tried to frame the article's position as support for Hamas.

"She's never done anything wrong," said Khanbabai. "The government has never accused her of doing anything wrong. They've provided no evidence against her of having done anything wrong, and so, you know, clearing her name is obviously something that's really important to her."

Rumeysa Ozturk is opening up about her stay in a Louisiana ICE detention center after being released Friday.

Since her release, Ozturk has chosen to remain private, focusing on her studies and writing — though not out of fear, her lawyer said.

"It's a difficult balance," Khanbabai said. "She wants to be there as a symbol of hope for others, as a means of educating people about what they can do to help themselves, but yet maintain her privacy and focus on her education."

Khanbabai was asked whether Ozturk hesitates before speaking out.

"This administration is attempting to silence people through fear," she replied. "Now we see that the Trump administration has monopolized that and really used that as a wedge, and now, you know, claiming antisemitism, protecting students from antisemitism, they're really going after free speech."

But Khanbabai says Ozturk's voice is far from lost.

"She's a writer and loves to write, so hopefully, you'll be seeing some material from her soon," she said. "She's brave and she's very strong, and so I don't think that she's going to be silenced."

On Thursday, Vanity Fair published a personal essay by Ozturk, breaking her public silence. In it, she recounts her time in ICE custody, including the emotional and physical toll of detention, and the solidarity she found with other immigrant women held alongside her.

Rumeysa Ozturk, who was detained by plainclothes immigration authorities in Somerville after her student visa was revoked, was ordered released after a bail hearing Friday.

"I came to understand that this facility serves as an immigration detention center where asylum seekers, refugees, and immigrants — people escaping conflict, war, oppression, and violence — are taken and find themselves stuck for months or years," she wrote.

Reflecting on the relationships she built with fellow detainees, Ozturk added, "We each found ourselves trapped in our own individual nightmares, but we found comfort and relief in one another, and we shared the burden and pain by listening to each other."

She ends her essay by asking a question: "How can suffering and compassion coexist in the same environment?"

While her immigration and visa cases remain unresolved, Ozturk is determined to complete her PhD in Child Study and Human Development. Her next immigration hearing is set for October.

Maureen Maloney

Maureen Maloney has spent the past 14 years turning personal tragedy into public advocacy.

Her son, Matthew Denice, was killed in 2011 in a motorcycle crash in Milford, Massachusetts, involving an undocumented immigrant. Since then, she's become one of the most outspoken local voices against undocumented immigration in the Bay State.

"Matthew was one of those people that when he walked into a room, he just lit the room up. He had this very contagious smile," Maloney said.

The events of that August day are etched in her memory.

"Matthew was riding his motorcycle home here in Milford in a residential area," she said. "A drunk, unlicensed, illegal alien ran through a stop sign and they collided. Matthew became lodged in the wheel well and was dragged a quarter of a mile to his death while witnesses were banging on the truck trying to stop the driver."

At the time, Maloney admits she hadn't given much thought to immigration issues. But the circumstances of her son's death forced her to confront what she calls a systemic problem.

"That was a big wake-up call for me," she said. "I discovered he was actually the third person in a two-year period to be killed here in Milford by somebody in the country illegally."

NBC10 Boston explores issue of immigration, speaking to immigrants in Massachusetts about what it means to them and looking into recent changes under the Trump administration.

That realization led Maloney to become vice president of Advocates for Victims of Illegal Alien Crime, or AVIAC, a national organization that lobbies Washington and supports families affected by crimes committed by undocumented immigrants. She has since campaigned against sanctuary policies in Massachusetts and pushed for stricter immigration enforcement.

"I have felt from early on that if our border was secured and our immigration laws were enforced, the person who killed my son would not have been here, and my son would still be alive," she said.

While she says she supports legal immigration, Maloney favors a hardline approach when it comes to people in the country illegally.

"Aggressive measures need to be taken to undo what has been done," she said. "President Trump is the first president to really listen to the voices of the victims."

Still, she says that many unresolved issues remain.

"Progress is being made, but there's a lot more work that needs to be done," she said. "What do we do with the 10 million foreign-born people who have come into the country illegally? That hasn't been decided yet, what to do with them."

Through her activism, Maloney says she's found purpose amid the pain.

"It's a big loss. It's left a big void in my life," she said. "I didn't understand the plan. I still don't understand that plan, but the fact that every morning, I continued to wake up — I knew God had a plan for me."

Today, Maloney continues her advocacy while honoring her son's memory through a local scholarship fund in his name. According to 2022 Pew Research data, an estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants live in the U.S., with about 300,000 residing in Massachusetts.

Maloney said she will fight for reform for as long as she lives.

Massachusetts is known worldwide for its higher education institutions, but the Trump administration's targeting of international students could force prospective students to stay away from the Bay State.

Hua Dong

Hua Dong teaches Chinese language and culture at Northeastern University, but her most powerful lessons often come from her own life experience.

Born and raised in Nanjing, China, Dong grew up in a time of political awakening. In the late 1980s, she moved to Beijing to pursue a journalism degree just as China was beginning to open to the world. It was there, as a young college student, that she pushed back against one of the most brutal repressions of student speech in modern history during the 1989 Tiananmen Square student protests.

"Tiananmen came, and that changed everything," she recalled. "Riding my bike along the tanks on the evening of June 3, helping the injured protesters. I think all this has changed and left a big mark on me."

The State Department says it is targeting Chinese students who study in "critical fields" and those with ties to the Chinese Communist Party.

The violent crackdown on those protests by the Chinese government eventually drove her to the United States, where she rebuilt her life as an educator and filmmaker. Her early films focused on the events of Tiananmen — stories that remain censored in her home country.

"We were making films, first of all, about the Tiananmen, 1989 Tiananmen incident," she said.

Now living in the U.S. for more than three decades, Dong finds herself worried by recent developments around free speech on American college campuses. She sees signs of the silencing she once fought against.

"Seeing how the country I have called home for the past 30-something years is becoming a country that's limiting and restricting the voices," she said, "makes me really sad and makes me really question where our future is heading."

Crackdowns on student protests, particularly pro-Palestinian demonstrations, have raised alarm for many immigrants and international students, especially as some face detentions by immigration officials and even visa cancellations.

"As an immigrant in the U.S., I have felt I'm always translating. Not just language, but also value and also expectations," she explained.

NBC10 Boston examines the economic consequences of President Donald Trump's hardline immigration policies in Massachusetts and beyond.

Despite the challenges, she remains determined to carry out her message to students: Speak up.

"The occasion is here, it has arisen," she said.

For Dong, the classroom is just the beginning of civic engagement. She encourages her students to explore different cultures, share perspectives, and not take their voice for granted.

As one Chinese proverb puts it, "You learn more traveling 10,000 miles than from 10,000 books."

Tens of thousands of Afghan nationals living in the United States are concerned for their safety if the Trump administration sends them back to Taliban-run Afghanistan.

Samira

Nearly 12,000 Afghan nationals in the U.S. are in legal limbo after the Trump administration revoked their Temporary Protected Status.

The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals granted a temporary pause in their TPS termination, an order that goes through Monday, NBC News reported.

The federal government's efforts leave many vulnerable to deportation. Among those affected is Samira, a young Afghan woman now living in Massachusetts.

She told NBC10 Boston her family's safety is tied to her work with the U.S. government.

"I believe that the U.S. will still stay committed to their allies and their families," Samira said, concealing her face out of fear of retaliation.

As a child, Samira fled Taliban rule in the 1990s. After the U.S. occupation, her family returned, and she pursued a college education.

She later landed a job with the U.S. government as an interpreter during America's 20-year war in Afghanistan.

When U.S. troops withdrew in 2021, she and her siblings fled the country, fearing retaliation from the Taliban for her ties to the U.S.

Samira eventually arrived in Massachusetts through a Special Immigrant Visa, or SIV, in 2023, but her parents remain stranded in Afghanistan.

"I think when the U.S. government left Afghanistan, it got worse," she said. "Women cannot go to work. They cannot go out without a companion."

Samira applied to the State Department's reunification initiative known as the Office of the Coordinator for Afghan Relocation Efforts program, or CARE, which was created to help Afghan allies bring immediate family including spouses and children. She was unsure if the administration would make an exception for her parents.

But after President Donald Trump reinstated a travel ban on 12 countries — including Afghanistan — in June, communication from the CARE program stopped, she said.

"There's no one to answer to the emails, to the calls," Samira said. "That scares me."

Jeff Thielman, CEO of the International Institute of New England, says Samira's story is far from unique.

"Real people's lives are at stake here," Thielman said.

His refugee advocacy group helps around 20,000 people across the region, many of whom he says are being left behind as immigration policies shift rapidly and funding for nonprofits like his dwindles.

IINE helped resettle around 2,000 Afghan refugees who arrived in Massachusetts in 2022.

"We rely on immigrant talent to come into this region, to work in hospitals, health care, elder care," he said. "This is an attack on our people and our economy."

"It may seem a policy, it may seem an announcement, but for us, it's a life-changing thing," Samira said. "Because it would either reunite our family again, or they keep us apart for many more years to come."

A spokesperson for the U.S. State Department would not comment on Samira's case, but noted that the agency suspended visa issuance to Afghan nationals on June 4.

It also said there are exceptions made for SIV applicants and processing continues on a case-by-case basis.

It remains unclear whether the CARE reunification program will resume or whether Samira's parents will qualify for one of the exceptions.

Meanwhile, the Department of Homeland Security has justified the end of TPS for Afghans by citing "improved security and economic conditions" in Afghanistan. However, the State Department continues to maintain a travel advisory warning Americans against visiting the country due to crime, terrorism, civil unrest and kidnapping.

Afghans can still apply for asylum, but that process often takes years and offers no guarantee.

Samira hopes that the U.S. government will once again prioritize families like hers.