Worcester mother recounts injury during ICE arrest, refusal to provide meds
Rosane Ferreira-De Oliveira said she was in "a lot of pain" when Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents arrested her on Worcester's Eureka Street on May 8.
An ICE agent had grabbed her shoulder and strained her nerves, the 40-year-old mother told MassLive in an interview on Monday.
Ferreira-De Oliveira said that the pain in her shoulder caused her to cry as the agents placed her in a gold SUV on Eureka Street. More than 30 people confronted the ICE agents and Worcester police officers, who arrived at the scene just after Ferreira-De Oliveira was placed in the vehicle.
She would be taken away to be detained at the Wyatt Detention Center in Rhode Island.
Before arriving at the detainment center, Ferreira-De Oliveira required medical attention. She received care at a hospital, where doctors provided her medication and a list of physical therapy exercises on sheets of paper. Her arm was also placed in a sling during the recovery period.
During her five months of detention between the Rhode Island facility and the Strafford County Corrections center in Dover, New Hampshire, however, Ferreira-De Oliveira said that the staff never provided her with the medication or the exercise sheet. She would finally receive both on Oct. 2 — after she was released from detainment earlier that day. A bag filled with medications and exercise programs was placed on a desk at the office of the law firm representing Ferreira-De Oliveira, Toland Law LLC.
A spokesperson for ICE did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.
The account from Ferreira-De Oliveira matches previous claims made by her immigration lawyer, Paul Toland . Toland told MassLive in May that ICE had injured his client's shoulder and did not give her medicine for the pain.
A senior Department of Homeland Security member refuted these claims in a statement previously provided to MassLive.
"The allegations about Rosane Ferreira-De Oliveira's treatment in detainment are unequivocally false," the statement reads. "ICE has provided Ferreira with prompt medical care and services, and she has not filed any grievances or complaints regarding delayed medical care."
This is not the first time a detainee or their lawyer has accused ICE officials of not providing proper medical care for them.
Jemmy Jimenez Rosa , a mother from Canton who ICE previously detained for 10 days, had two hospitalizations during her time in detention, according to her lawyer.
The lawyer previously told MassLive that Jimenez Rosa was denied proper health care for her diabetes, asthma and other serious health issues.
Marcelo Gomes Da Silva , an 18-year-old from Milford who was arrested and detained by ICE for six days in Burlington, previously told MassLive that he had to go to the hospital while he was imprisoned.
During his detainment, Gomes Da Silva told the guards that he might have had a concussion. Two weeks before he was arrested, the 18-year-old was hit in the head hard with a volleyball.
He asked if the guards had anything to offer for his symptoms, to which they replied no.
"A lot of people said they were sick," he said. "A lot of people said they weren't feeling good, and the guards would be like, 'We don't have that here. We don't give that to people. Sorry we can't do anything for you.'
Gomes Da Silva met with his attorneys and described his condition to them.
"I said, 'I know I'm sick'" Gomes Da Silva recounted. "'I don't feel good and they don't do anything for me down there.'"
Gomes Da Silva said his lawyer asked the guards to take him to a hospital for treatment. It was the only time he ever left the field office during his detention.
"That was the only day I actually ever got Tylenol again," he said. "I never got it again."
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