Over the weekend, ICE arrested Marcelo Gomes Da Silva, a high school student on his way to volleyball practice in Milford, Massachusetts, a town southeast of Boston. Marcelo is a musician and an excellent student who was born in Brazil, but has lived in Milford since he was young.
Although he wasn’t the target of an ICE operation that’s led to the arrest of about 1,500 people around Boston, Marcelo was arrested anyway when officials found out he wasn’t a citizen. John L. Micek, the Political Editor of MassLive.com, talks to Lincoln Square Executive Editor Susan J. Demas about how that arrest has sent shockwaves through the community.
John spent many years covering politics in Pennsylvania, the ultimate swing state, and now he’s in Massachusetts, a safe blue state. But Trump did make some headway there in the 2024 election, which John writes about in a recent column, “Math is hard. Midterm math is harder. The lessons Mass. needs to learn for 2026.” John talks about how he sees the midterms shaping up.
And the Trump administration has been battling Harvard University for months, recently trying to block the college’s ability to admit students from overseas. The administration has claimed it’s concerned about anti-Semitism on campus and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiatives. Now the administration wants the right to take control of how Harvard operates in key ways, which John says is a test case. If Trump can break such a prominent university, we can expect he’ll apply the same playbook with others.
Trump’s feud with Harvard also has huge economic and scientific implications, as John points out. The university is an economic driver for Massachusetts. And its innovative medical research is being damaged by the administration cutting off federal grants. That research is critical for our country — and the world.
Thank you Jeanne Elbe, Barbara Dillard, Charles Hesdorffer, Kevin Paquette, Linda Kemp, and many others for tuning into our live video with John L. Micek!
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