ICE detains owner of Stow restaurant

The owner of a cafe in Stow was detained by ICE officers Wednesday morning, according to local police and lawmakers. 

Max Fernandes, the owner of Stow Cafe on Great Road, was the person detained. State Sen. Jamie Eldridge acknowledged his arrest in a Facebook post, saying that he is working with state Rep. Kate Hogan to help Fernandes’s family. 

Eldridge and others such as the Maynard Democratic Town Committee identified the owner only as “Max.” State records show that Stow Cafe is operated by a Marlborough resident named Maximiano Fernandes. 

The Stow Police Department said in posts of its own that it was aware of the fact that ICE agents “executed a detainment order for an individual in Stow.” The department was not involved in the arrest and was not notified that it would be taking place, according to officials. ICE does not update local police departments after it takes enforcement actions, according to the department.

ICE issued a “detainer” for Fernandes in response to a 2024 incident that was “recently resolved” in Concord District Court, Stow police said.

ICE issues detainer requests to local law enforcement agencies when it becomes aware of “removable aliens” that are being held by local law enforcement officials. These detainers ask that local police hold the person in question for extra time beyond when they would normally be released so that ICE officers can assume custody of them before they are released back into their communities. 

It is unclear if or when Stow police received a detainer request for Fernandes. Under a 2017 state Supreme Judicial Court ruling, local police are barred from holding people based solely on civil immigration detainers. Stow police cited this ruling in comments made on social media, saying that the department has no role in immigration enforcement. 

The department declined to comment further when asked about the detainer request and the incident that led to its issuance. Online records for Concord District Court do not show any recent cases involving Fernandes.

ICE spokespeople did not return a request for comment Thursday. 

Fernandes opened Stow Cafe in 2011, he said in a 2024 interview that was posted to Facebook. Fernandes spoke about moving to Massachusetts from Brazil in 2005 and working at other restaurants in the area as he planned on opening his own eatery. 

“I always had it in my mind, ‘Well, one day I’m going to have my own place,’” he said. 

Fernandes has a teenage daughter and three younger children that are triplets. He has named multiple menu items after them.  

“Rep. Hogan is still working to gather information in order to understand the situation and how to best assist the family and the local business,” a spokesperson for the lawmaker said in a statement to Boston.com. 

A Reddit user said online that they witnessed Fernandes being detained as he walked in to work on Wednesday. 

“5 cars swarmed the parking lot of our building and masked cowards got out and took him. He’s owned the business for over 15 years. He’s a hard worker, a father, and a husband,” the user wrote. 

Eldridge said that he is familiar with Stow Cafe as an essential meeting area for residents of the small town. The impact of Fernandes’s detainment was immediately felt, as Eldridge received more than 20 messages from concerned citizens Wednesday in the immediate aftermath of the arrest.

“I think for a lot of Stow residents this was perhaps their first experience with someone that they knew very well getting arrested and detained by ICE,” he said.

Fernandes is being detained at the ICE field office in Burlington, Eldridge said. He has spoken to Fernandes’s wife and has confirmed that Fernandes has legal representation. They are coordinating on next steps with the goal of preventing Fernandes from being removed from the state.

“The family has deep ties to Massachusetts, to America, to the community,” Eldridge said. 

Many people detained by ICE in the area are taken to the Burlington facility before being transferred to detainment centers elsewhere. The Burlington office is not meant to house detainees for extended periods of time. Immigrant advocates, elected officials, and others raised concerns about potentially inhumane conditions inside it last year, as ICE ramped up deportation efforts.

Some lawmakers have since been allowed in to conduct oversight, but state and local officials remain limited in their abilities to keep an eye on the facility without the cooperation of the Trump administration.

Eldridge said that now is the time for his fellow lawmakers to pass comprehensive legislation that would protect immigrants. He is a driving force behind the Safe Communities Act, which would prohibit ICE from deputizing local law enforcement officials and install other guardrails for how federal authorities interact with residents.

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