A Pennsylvania father who has been in federal immigration custody since February has been released, allowing him to reunited with his cancer-stricken daughter after two months of being separated from her.
Bruno Guedes da Silva, a Brazilian national, was arrested by agents with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), who said he was wanted on firearms charges.
Those charges were dropped against him last week. They involved him allegedly lying about his immigration status when buying a gun in July 2024, something he denies.
On Tuesday, a judge released Guedes da Silva from the Moshannon Valley Processing Center on a $5,000 immigration bond, TribLive reported.
He was picked up by family friends who took him to the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, where his six-year-old daughter Maria Paula de Araujo Guedes is receiving treatment for Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
The family had set up a GoFundMe page to help pay for Maria’s care after her father was arrested by ICE. The online fundraiser has brought in more than $101,000 as of Wednesday evening.
The family released a statement thanking the immigration judge for releasing Guedes da Silva.
The spokesperson for the family also conveyed thanks to Guedes da Silva’s criminal defense attorney, Tom Farrell, and the Allegheny County District Attorney, the office that withdrew the firearms charges against him.
Bruno Guedes da Silva, a Brazilian national who had been in ICE custody for two months, is pictured with his daughter after being released on Tuesday
Maria Paula de Araujo Guedes, 6, is being treated for Hodgkin’s lymphoma. A GoFundMe started by the family has raised more than $101,000 as of Wednesday evening
The family is pictured together over Maria’s hospital bed at the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh
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‘We are especially grateful to his immigration attorney, Peter Rogers, whose tireless advocacy helped secure Bruno’s release so he can return home and be with his young daughter as she undergoes critical medical treatment,’ the statement continued.
Guedes da Silva sought asylum in the United States in 2022 claiming his family was shot at in retaliation for being employed as a correctional officer.
‘As a result, he fled to the United States, and when he got there, he asked for asylum,’ Farrell told WTAE-TV.
Farrell said he was granted a work visa, a Social Security card and driver’s license upon entering the US.
So when Guedes da Silva tried to buy a handgun from a McCandless firearms store in July 2024, he answered ‘no’ on to question on a federal Firearms Transaction Record form asking if he was unlawfully in the country.
He was not allowed to buy the gun and since that day, he had a warrant out for his arrest on a charge of lying on a federal gun form. Farrell said Guedes da Silva was unaware of this for two years.
‘He was never told why he couldn’t purchase a gun. They just said, “No, you can’t purchase a gun,” and he thought that was the end of it,’ Farrell said. ‘Everything that the federal government and the state government told him was that he was allowed to be in this country.’
It’s unclear if the Department of Homeland Security will continue to pursue a case against Guedes da Silva. The Daily Mail approached the agency and ICE for further comment.
