Malunda Destino had stopped at a gas station in Scarborough last week when several ICE agents approached his car, according to a friend who said she later spoke to him from jail.
The friend, Choisie Nyemba, said Destino told her the agents knocked on his car window and told him, in no uncertain terms, to step out of the car.
"Come out or we gonna break the window," was what the agents told Destino, according to Nyemba.
Nyemba said when she and other friends learned of Destino's arrest, they scrambled to locate him, even going to the ICE office in Scarborough, only to find he'd already be taken out of state.
"They were like 'Oh, no, he's not here anymore. They moved him to Massachusetts,'" Nyemba said.
Nyemba said she first met Destino in 2022, when he was living in a shelter in Portland, and she was volunteering to help new arrivals. She said they soon became fast friends, bonding over a shared love of food, dance and music.
She said she was shocked by his arrest.
"He doesn't do anything to hurt people," Nyemba said of Destino. "He's always a good person, he loves to support people. He doesn't know how to say no to people."
Destino is currently being held at a correctional facility in Plymouth, Massachusetts, according to ICE's online detainee locator system.
Immigration court records show a judge issued a removal order for Destino in 2023, but that an appeal of that case is pending.
A spokesperson for ICE did not return Maine Public's request for comment, but told the Portland Press Herald that Destino will be held in ICE custody until there's a decision in his appeal.
In the meantime, Destino's loss is hitting home for his semiprofessional soccer team, the Lewiston-based Maine Legends FC.
"The whole situation, you know, it's creating chaos in the club, " said captain Manuel Vemba.
Vemba said in addition to his skill on the pitch as a defender, Destino brought a sense of joy to the game, and also stepped up to mentor kids through the team's youth soccer academy.
"He is like our motivator in the team. He's always smiling, making everybody laugh, you know, telling stories," Vemba said.
Now, Vemba said a sense of fear has crept into the club, especially for other immigrant players.
"Some players are even scared to come to practice because they fear, you know, they may get targeted," he said.
Others, he said, are reluctant to travel to away games out of state. Vemba said the team is raising money to help support Destino's pregnant girlfriend while he's in custody. Another group, Project Relief, is raising money for his legal fees.
For Destino's friend, Choisie Nyemba, his arrest is emblematic of the broader impacts on immigrant communities as more and more people get swept up in President Donald Trump's mass deportation push.
"We came here for peace, so we want to have that peace," she said. "Stop hurting people's family. Because this is hurting people's family."
For now, she said, she just wants her friend to come home.
