Saco father detained by ICE at jetport on way to visit deaf son
Passengers wait in the TSA security line at the Portland Jetport on July 10, 2025. (Brianna Soukup/Staff Photographer)
Nguinamau Celestino’s wife dropped him off at the Portland jetport at 3 a.m. to catch an early flight to Washington, D.C. He was on his way to visit Abel, his youngest son, who had just begun his first semester at a high school for the deaf.
Nguinamau never arrived.
Celestino’s daughter, Margarida, 24, said her brother checked their father’s location on his phone after his flight was scheduled to land. He was at the U.S. Immigration and Custom’s enforcement facility in Scarborough.
Margarida**,** a medical tech based in Auburn, woke at 6 a.m. to two missed calls from her dad, which she returned, but he didn’t pick up. She was on her way to work when her mom called; she told her employer there was a family emergency and headed to Saco, where her parents live, to put the pieces together.
“Usually we see videos of people being taken, but unfortunately, everything with my dad was so silent,” she said. “Nobody said anything.”
The Celestino family — which includes Nguinamau, his wife Sukombo, their eldest Margarida and three sons, Lionel, 21, Nludi, 18, and Abel, 15 — are originally from Angola, later lived in Namibia and came to the U.S. in 2017 as asylum seekers. Their application is still ongoing. Only Margarida has a green card.
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Early on Friday, Oct. 9, Margarida said her father walked into the airport and went straight to security. He saw ICE agents around, but didn’t have any reason to think they were there for him. But when he showed his ID to a TSA agent, she said, ICE agents looked his picture, said they were there for Celestino, and detained him.
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Immigration enforcement has been ramping up at airports nationwide, and local advocates said there were several detentions at the jetport in August, including of asylum seeker and registered nurse Debora Kapisha, who has since been released.
Margarida said her father has no criminal history, but agents told him he had overstayed his visa.
An ICE spokesperson confirmed Tuesday that Nguinamau was arrested during “targeted operations” last week, and said that he entered the country legally but violated the terms of his lawful admission and “remained in the U.S. illegally for nearly eight years.”
He was processed at the Scarborough facility, but by the time Margarida’s husband arrived at 9 a.m., Nguinamau had already been transferred out of the state. Margarida’s husband, a U.S. citizen, had come to bring Nguinamau a jacket, because she heard from another detained family member that the facility is chilly, and Nguinamau gets cold easily.
The agency’s online detainee locator showed Tuesday that Celestino is now being held at the Strafford County Corrections facility in Dover, New Hampshire.
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Margarida said her father has been in touch every day via phone, and seems to be doing alright. The family organized a GoFundMe, which has raised nearly $30,000, and they’ve transfered some funds to him. He was able to keep his medications, but she said his work authorization card, Social Security card and Angolan ID were all missing from his wallet when they picked up his belongings.
Nguinamau works in plumbing and HVAC for Pine State Services, and got his associate’s degree at Southern Maine Community College. All of the Celestino children attended Portland Public Schools, including King Middle and Casco Bay High.
Their youngest sibling, Abel, received special services at East End Community School and played for the Baxter Seagulls, an ASL basketball team for students with the Maine Educational Center for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing.
Abel Celestino of the Baxter Seagulls reacts after making a basket during their final season game against Pine Tree Academy in March 2023. (Derek Davis/Staff Photographer) Purchase this image
The center announced Nguinamau’s detention on Facebook over the weekend, describing him as a beloved member of the Greater Portland and center community.
“Our Deaf and Hard of Hearing community has always been strengthened by the connections we build, the families we support, and our willingness to stand together when someone is in need. This is a time to put those values into action,” center co-directors Steve Connolly and Catherine Lushman wrote in the post.
Connolly and Lushman said they were drafting letters to Sens. Angus King and Susan Collins, asking them to intervene on behalf of the Celestino family.
For now, Margarida is worried about the impact Nguinamau’s detention will have on the rest of her family. Her mom has lupus and high blood pressure, and travels to Boston every three weeks for treatment, which she worries could be impacted by her husband’s detention.
Abel, who was awaiting his father’s visit in D.C., had to leave his school for the long weekend, and the family scrambled to find a friend in the city to look after him. The friend stepped up to the challenge, Margarida said, but it wasn’t the same as Abel spending the weekend with his father.
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Tagged: Immigration and Customs Enforcement, portland jetport, public service
Riley covers education for the Press Herald. Before moving to Portland, she spent two years in Kenai, Alaska, reporting on local government, schools and natural resources for the public radio station KDLL. More by Riley Board
