Milford resident Maureen Maloney thinks about the what-ifs whenever she sees headlines about illegal immigration.

Maloney has advocated for a stronger border and common-sense immigration policies in the years after a drunken-driving illegal immigrant shattered her life on Aug. 20, 2011.

Maloney’s son Matthew Denice died at the age of 23 that day when Nicolas Dutan Guaman struck his motorcycle after the Ecuadorian national rolled through a Milford stop sign in a pickup truck. Denice was pinned underneath a tire well and dragged a quarter-mile to his death.

Guaman, who admitted to drinking as many as six beers before the crash, was deported in 2023 after being convicted in 2014 and serving a subsequent jail sentence.

Nearly 14 years since the tragedy, Maloney says she would “give anything to have my son back.”

Before the crash, Guaman faced prior charges that included assault and battery on a police officer, but he was given probation instead of being deported, as the charges continued without a finding.

“If we had this kind of enforcement of criminal illegal aliens prior to my son’s death, my son would still be alive,” Maloney told ther Herald. “If Massachusetts didn’t have the sanctuary policies that it has in place, my son would still be alive.”

The town that Maloney has called home for nearly 30 years has found itself in the national headlines.

Agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detained Milford High School junior Marcelo Gomes da Silva, a Brazilian native whose visa had lapsed, on his way to volleyball practice last weekend, prompting fierce backlash from the community.

Gomes da Silva, 18, came to the U.S. from Brazil at age 7 with his parents on an F-2 visa for children of students.

A federal immigration judge released Gomes da Silva on $2,000 bond on Thursday to the delight of supporters, Gov. Maura Healey and scores of politicians. His lawyer has said that he could be eligible for asylum and is currently pursuing a claim, which would make his presence in the U.S. lawful.

Maloney said she feels “bad for this young man, Marcelo.” She blames Massachusetts’ policies that limit local and state law enforcement from cooperating with ICE and his father, João Paulo Gomes Pereira, a “known public safety threat” who the feds were targeting and say is in the country illegally.

U.S. Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said Gomes da Silva’s father “has a habit of reckless driving at speeds in excess of 100 miles per hour through residential areas.”

“The son is unfortunately collateral damage, just like how my son was collateral damage in Massachusetts policies,” Maloney said. “The difference, though, is these parents will be able to see their child again, and I will never be able to see my child again. There is a very big distinction there.”

After Maloney lost her son, whom she described as “very well-liked,” the Milford community rallied together in support of her family.

More than 200 people protested against illegal immigration outside Town Hall just weeks after the death. Ecuadorian officials offered condolences to the Maloney family. Milford also signed an agreement with the feds to audit its current employees and their legal status.

Maloney also highlighted how her son’s death followed the deaths of two others in Milford due to illegal immigrant drivers.

Resident Richard V. Grossi died at the age of 55 in 2009 after being struck by an illegal immigrant from Portugal who was charged with motor vehicle homicide. In February 2011, 47-year-old Ashland resident Andrea Agosto also died in a fatal crash in the Worcester County town of roughly 30,000 people.

“But, you know, memories fade, and life goes on,” Maloney said. “People just move on.”

Within the past week, Gov. Healey demanded answers from ICE on Gomes da Silva’s detention, while hundreds of locals protested the feds in town, at a high school volleyball game, and outside the courthouse.

Maloney pointed out how Milford’s community has “grown a lot” since her son’s death. Census data indicates that the town’s Hispanic and Brazilian populations have grown nearly twofold since 2009.

“This is tugging at their heartstrings,” the mother said of Gomes da Silva’s supporters. “I don’t think they’re thinking about illegal immigration overall, how it impacts everybody on a daily basis.”

“It’s the Massachusetts sanctuary city policies that enable the illegal aliens and the criminal aliens to stay here in the state,” she added. “Massachusetts is a magnet.”

Maloney directly mentioned motels and hotels that have housed local homeless families and migrants over the past couple of years across the Bay State. Healey announced in late May that all remaining shelters will be closing this summer.

The shelters under the state’s emergency assistance system have been filled with crime including child rape, domestic violence, brawls, drunkenness, drugs and more, according to a series of incident reports released earlier this year

Ashland resident Jon Fetherston served as director of an emergency shelter in Marlborough in 2023 and 2024 and has blown the whistle on hotel and motel crime. The conservative podcaster said he has known Maloney for years, calling her a “true American hero.”

Over the years, Maloney has opposed a law that allows illegal immigrants to gain driver’s licenses, pushed for stronger border security, while speaking directly with President Trump, border czar Tom Homan, ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons, and hordes of congressmen and senators.

The Trump administration has recognized Maloney and her husband, Michael Maloney, as an “Angel family” that has fallen victim to illegal immigrant crime.

“When law and order are not enforced, public safety is compromised,” Fetherston told the Herald. “That’s why I stand firmly with Maureen Maloney in calling for stronger immigration enforcement.”

In response to an inquiry on how the Healey administration is supporting families victimized by illegal immigrant crime, a governor’s spokesperson directed the Herald to the state Executive Office of Public Safety and Security.

A spokesperson for that agency outlined dozens of support services for all victims of crime.

Maloney said she wants “people to be aware that there are thousands of innocent people” victimized by illegal immigration every year. She touted ICE’s Operation Patriot, an enforcement effort in May that resulted in the arrests of 1,461 illegal aliens, including 790 charged with or convicted of crimes in the U.S. or abroad, in the Bay State.

“How many lives do you think will be saved from them being removed from the street?” she asked. “How many less children will be sexually abused as a result of ICE’s work?”

Maureen Maloney, whose son Matthew Denice was killed by an illegal immigrant, is seen in a family photo taken at Matthew’s graduation, with sons Michael and Matthew, and husband Mike Maloney.
Maureen Maloney speaks at the Registry of Motor Vehicles, as she wears a photo of her son, Matthew Denice, who was killed in 2011 when illegal immigrant, Nicolas Dutan Guaman hit him with his truck and dragged him to his death. She supports Geoff Diehl, Republican candidate for Governor as he held a press conference trying to repeal the law giving driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants on June 29, 2022 in Brockton, Massachusetts. (Staff Photo By Matt Stone/Boston Herald)