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U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents claimed responsibility for wrongfully detaining a naturalized citizen last week — a mistake initially attributed to Immigrations and Customs Enforcement.

Hugo Monteiro, a 31-year old U.S. citizen from Brazil, was detained as he was leaving the Cambridge District Courthouse in Medford on May 16 after he was mistaken for an undocumented immigrant.

In an interview shortly after being released, Monteiro said that the officers identified themselves as ICE. But James Covington, a spokesperson for ICE, denied responsibility for the detainment.

“It was Border Patrol. It was not ICE,” Covington said.

CBP later claimed responsibility for the wrongful detainment in a statement to The Crimson, which contained multiple factual inaccuracies about the incident.

“On May 15, 2025, several bystanders began protesting U.S. Border Patrol agents who were assisting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement outside the Cambridge District Courthouse in Medford,” Hilton Beckham, a CBP spokesperson, wrote.

Monteiro was detained on May 16 while more than a dozen alleged clients of a high-end brothel network were being arraigned inside of the courthouse — a case that has drawn the attention of local media.

“Amidst the chaos, agents believed a man exiting the courthouse to be an ICE suspect and illegal alien. The agents acted swiftly and in line with established protocols to maintain public safety by detaining him away from the angry protestors,” Beckham added.

When the agents detained Monteiro, four affiliates of various local news organizations were waiting outside the courthouse alongside two bystanders. According to eyewitness accounts and video footage of the incident, there was no protest at the time of the detainment.

CBP did not respond to multiple requests for a corrected statement.

CBP wrote that their agents were “assisting” an ICE targeted activity, which led them to mistakenly identify Monteiro as another suspect.

“They had a picture of someone, they thought it was me,” Monteiro said. “I think it was just bad timing.”

Monteiro was approached by four plainclothes officers, none wearing any external badge or police vest. Officers showed their badges after detaining him, Monteiro said.

He was handcuffed and escorted to an unmarked Jeep Cherokee, where he was asked for his identification. Upon realizing their mistake, CBP released Monteiro roughly 15 minutes after initially being detained.

“They pulled over in the parking lot. They explained to me they wanted to make sure they had the correct person,” Monteiro said. “I showed them my ID, my passport and my picture, and they confirmed that it was not me.”

Other recent arrests have sparked outrage across the state. An ICE arrest of a woman in Worcester two weeks ago spiraled into disorder as a crowd began to protest the action, repeatedly asking to see a warrant and trying to prevent the arrest.

U.S. Attorney Leah B. Foley issued a pointed statement denouncing “interference” with immigration agents last week.

CBP did not respond to repeated requests for clarification on the presence of “angry protestors” at the Medford courthouse.

—Staff writer Laurel M. Shugart can be reached at laurel.shugart@thecrimson.com. Follow them on X @laurelmshugart.