Brazilian jiu-jitsu teacher is arrested in the US by ICE, and students campaign for his release

Awarded in national and international competitions throughout his 20-year career, Thiago, 34, is from São Paulo and has been a martial art teacher in Philadelphia, in the state of Pennsylvania, for ten years.

He was detained when he was traveling to Orlando, Florida, to attend Pan Kids, the largest and most prestigious jiu-jitsu championship in the world, in which some of his students participated.

The athlete's arrest triggered an online mobilization of students and their families asking for the teacher to be released. The children wrote and drew letters, accompanied by photos with the coach, which were shared by the academies on social media to ask for help and donations.

"Professor Thiago is like a third father to me," wrote Liam Karas, 14. "I traveled, competed and trained with him for 7 years. He not only made me better physically, but also mentally, and taught me life lessons that I will carry with me for the rest of my life."

Landry, 9, said: "Thiago helps me when I make mistakes. He tells me it's okay and that mistakes make me better. So if he made a mistake, it will make him better too, and he's already an amazing person. I'll be sad if Thiago can't come back. Please let him come back."

Parents of students who have been trained by the Brazilian for years also mobilized. Rhianon Kearns, the mother of one of his students, recorded a video in which she says that the teacher's contribution to the community is greater than that of many who were born there.

“Thiago has been absolutely important in our lives,” she says. "He's been with our kids six days a week for the last five days. He knows a lot more about the kids in this community than a lot of people who were born here. He's done more for this community than most who were born here," Kearns said, when asking for donations.

A fundraising campaign was created to help cover defense costs. As of Monday afternoon (3), more than US$28,000 (R$143,000) had been raised; The goal is to reach US$35,000.

Thiago moved to the USA ten years ago, with an invitation to work as a coach, with a tourist visa (category B2), which allows a maximum stay of six months in the country. According to members of his family, he has already tried to obtain a work permit in the country, but was denied.

His arrest is part of the growing presence exercised by ICE at US airports – with intense inspection even on internal flights. In collaboration with the TSA, the airport security agency, agents have been increasingly detaining immigrants with expired visas, and not just those with a criminal case on their record.

The number of immigrant arrests last July, when this practice began, skyrocketed. There were more than 46,000 arrests in custody, around 1,500 arrests per day, according to the CBS network. Donald Trump's government has already said it wants to reach the mark of 2,000 arrests of irregular immigrants every day.

After being detained at the airport, the Brazilian was taken to FDC Philadelphia, a federal detention center that functions mainly as a preventive prison and which began receiving ICE envoys last year. From there, he was transferred to Moshannon Valley, a prison in Philipsburg, also in Pennsylvania, about a 4-hour drive from Philadelphia, which only receives immigrants.

Thiago's family reported having been transferred handcuffed and handcuffed. Even so, he is identified in prison as a low-danger inmate. He is awaiting a custody hearing and is trying to access medical appointments for health complaints that he already had before he was arrested. He also told family members that he was living in hell.

In Moshannon Valley, like him, there are 17 other people of Brazilian nationality. The site, one of the largest immigration detention centers in the country, has capacity for 1,870 prisoners.

From Brazil, Thiago's family says they are in despair due to the lack of answers and doubts about the next steps. Their contact with the athlete is limited, given the high demand from inmates to use the few devices available in prison to call their families.

The report asked ICE about the formal accusation against Thiago and his conditions in jail, but did not receive a response until the publication of this text.

From the beginning of the Trump administration, in 2025, until last July, 63 flights with deported Brazilians arrived in Brazil, according to official data from the Aqui é Brasil program, created by the Federal Government.

In total, almost 5,000 Brazilians returned. They are mostly (86%) men, between 18 and 49 years old, and upon arriving in Brazil they head to three main states, in this order: Minas Gerais, São Paulo and Rondônia, the majority to stay with family members.