The 18-year-old is in immigration detention after being arrested on graduation weekend in Milford, southwest of Boston, where he’s attended school since he was 6, friends said.

An athlete, a musician, an exceptional high school student with an infectious smile.

This is how community members in Milford, Massachusetts, described Marcelo Gomes Da Silva, an 18-year-old high school junior who was arrested by immigration authorities and sent to a detention center this weekend.

Gomes Da Silva was driving his father’s car on his way to volleyball practice with some of his teammates Saturday morning when immigration authorities stopped him.

Immigration authorities made the traffic stop because they were looking for Gomes Da Silva’s father, who is unlawfully present in the country, according to Todd Lyons, acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

After learning Gomes Da Silva was also unlawfully present in the U.S., ICE officers took him into custody, Lyons said Monday at a news conference.