Latest news with #FabianSchmidt
Yahoo
10 hours ago
- Yahoo
He thought a decade-old misdemeanor was behind him. Then he took a vacation in Europe.
Fabian Schmidt and his fiancée, Bhavani Hodgkins, stroll along the Nashua River near their apartment in downtown Nashua, N.H., with their black Lab named Django. (Photo by Allegra Boverman/New Hampshire Bulletin) Fabian Schmidt had no control over the light. It stayed on overhead from 6:30 in the morning until 11:30 at night. Which was a surprise for the 34-year-old New Hampshire resident because he always thought of prison as a dark place, like in the 1999 movie 'The Green Mile.' His cell wasn't fully dark at night either. Guards with flashlights regularly checked on everyone held at the Wyatt Detention Facility. Schmidt was housed among other Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainees apart from the larger inmate population held by the U.S. Marshals Service awaiting federal court proceedings. Yet he learned other ICE detainees faced serious charges, including murder, sexual assault, and drug-dealing. The mission of the Wyatt — a quasi-public maximum security facility in Central Falls, Rhode Island's smallest city — is to 'protect the public from people who pose a threat to society.' Schmidt never committed any violent crime. Instead, he got off a plane at Boston's Logan International Airport on March 7 on his return from a 10-day trip to visit family and friends in his native Germany. Schmidt obtained his green card as a teenager and became a U.S. permanent resident. But for some reason, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents pulled him aside. They aggressively asked him about past misdemeanors from 10 years ago when he lived in California — including a charge of drug possession that had been adjudicated. They asked about his annual income, where his parents lived, and what they did for a living. He was held for hours, which turned into days during which he was denied the chance to speak with a lawyer, his family, or the German Consulate. At one point, Schmidt said he was strip-searched and thrown into a cold shower. He was given only a thin mat to sleep on and fed a cold cup of noodles. He collapsed after developing flu-like symptoms and was transported to Mass General Hospital, where he was handcuffed to the bed. After being discharged from the hospital, Schmidt was taken back to the airport. On March 11, four days after his return from Europe, CBP agents came to get him. 'That's the first time I went to Rhode Island,' he recalled in a recent interview at a coffee shop near his home in Nashua. 'In hand shackles, feet shackles, in the back of an SUV going like 80 miles an hour.' He speaks softly, with a faint accent, sometimes pausing to note the surreal facts of the 58 days he spent inside the Wyatt. In a statement, Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told Rhode Island Current, 'When an individual is found with drug related charges and tries to re-enter the country, officers will take proper action. In this case, the conviction was dismissed, and the individual was released.' In several posts on the platform X , McLaughlin has called clips from news reports on Schmidt's treatment by CBP at Logan 'blatantly false,' 'straight-up false,' and 'flat-out FALSE.' Schmidt is readjusting to life back home. He said the ordeal cost him tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees, lost wages from his job as a master electrician, and expenses for food, clothing, and phone calls home to his worried girlfriend. He is considering filing a lawsuit, though he doesn't have details to share about that yet. 'This whole experience feels like a movie,' he said. Schmidt's story is one of dozens of accounts of hyper-aggressive immigration enforcement since the start of Donald Trump's second term. There's the Canadian woman with a U.S. work visa detained by ICE for two weeks who wrote she felt like she had been 'kidnapped;' the visiting scholar at Georgetown University with an academic visa held without charges at an ICE detention facility in Texas; the pair of Georgia newlyweds separated after the bride, an asylum seeker from Colombia, was detained by ICE. According to the Syracuse University-based public records database, Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), 19,125 people were booked into ICE detention in March, when Schmidt was first detained. His case drew headlines because it initially made no sense. New Hampshire's Democratic U.S. Sen. Maggie Hassan described the case as 'very concerning,' while Massachusetts Democratic State Rep. Mike Connolly called Schmidt's detention 'outrageous' and 'unlawful.' On X, a Canadian law professor's post about Schmidt was shared more than 2,000 times. His case also highlighted the Wyatt's role at the center of a yearslong political firestorm. Several public officials, including Rhode Island General Treasurer James Diossa, previously the mayor of Central Falls, have called for its closure. State lawmakers have introduced bills to close it down or, in the case of active bills in the House and Senate sessions, to stop ICE's ability to do business with Wyatt for civil immigration violations. Community members regularly hold protests outside the Wyatt's walls to draw attention to people detained inside. Since Trump's inauguration, there have been at least six such rallies. One, on March 18, was for Schmidt. Outside the Wyatt, people chanted his name and held signs that read 'FREE FABIAN' and 'DEFEND THE CONSTITUTION.' Schmidt heard them from inside. It gave him a surge of adrenaline. And a realization. 'Whoa,' he recalled thinking at the time. 'This is bigger than myself.' Schmidt spent his childhood traveling with his mother and stepfather, who worked as a tech consultant. He has lived in Denmark, South Africa, and England; he can read and write in four languages. When he was 16, his stepfather's work brought the family to Palo Alto, California. His stepfather's visa was for people with extraordinary abilities in their field — often called a 'genius visa' — and granted Schmidt legal entry as a dependent. Schmidt rode horses, played football, and embraced his new home. In 2022, he moved to Nashua to be closer to his mother, who had moved there. After a stint as a bartender, he found work as an electrical project lead at two affiliated companies: Greenerd Press & Machine Co., in Nashua, and Diamond Casting, in Hollis. Ian Wilson, a process engineer at Diamond Casting, called Schmidt a crucial member of the company. 'He's upstanding, friendly, gregarious, and very energetic,' he said. While bartending, Schmidt met and fell in love with Bhavani Hodgkins, who is now his fiancée. (Schmidt has an 8-year-old daughter from a previous relationship who lives with her mother in California.) He and Hodgkins have a black Lab named Django. 'This is where I'm from,' he said. 'I love this country.' The Donald W. Wyatt Detention Facility opened in 1993 on the site of a former textile factory. At the time, it helped address a shortage in pre-trial federal jail space in New England. During the search for a suitable Rhode Island site, a few cities and towns opposed the facility. But long-struggling Central Falls saw an economic opportunity. Shortly after the facility opened, then-Mayor Thomas Lazieh called the Wyatt 'a win now and a much bigger win down the road.' The ensuing years brought some payments from the detention center to the city; Central Falls received a total of $5.3 million in impact fees from Wyatt from 1994 through 2008, according to a 2012 joint legislative commission. But Wyatt also brought escapes, lawsuits over detainee mistreatment, criminal charges against staff members and wardens, a receivership, and — most notably — the 2008 death of an ICE detainee involving medical neglect and mistreatment. The death of that detainee, Hiu Lui 'Jason' Ng, prompted ICE to withdraw from the Wyatt for a decade. In 2019, the agency returned, amid an outcry from community groups, the Rhode Island ACLU, and elected officials. Today, the facility boasts a capacity of up to 730 adult male and 40 adult female detainees. According to a report in late March, the facility held 617 detainees for the U.S. Marshals Service (590 male, 27 female), and 116 detainees for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (112 male, 4 female). One of those male ICE detainees was Schmidt. He was housed in 10-by-7-foot cells with thick, pneumatically locking steel doors. One cell looked out over Macomber Stadium, where Central Falls High School plays athletics. The food was so bad, he said, he wouldn't feed it to his dog. Breakfast was some kind of 'oversalted…flour soup,' Schmidt said, along with a pinkish sausage of unknown origin, a dry piece of cornbread, and a serving of lukewarm milk. Lunch and dinner consisted of food that came from a can — chicken, green beans — and powdered potatoes that tasted like cardboard. Schmidt's account of the food provided at the Wyatt echoes a March report by the community organization Alliance to Mobilize Our Resistance (AMOR), which states, 'In the first two weeks of March, AMOR received messages from 16 people detained by ICE who specified that they would not have enough to eat without help purchasing food from the Commissary.' Schmidt was scared, sad, and depressed during his weeks at the Wyatt. He missed his daughter, his partner, his dog. 'Mentally, you have to learn how to block that out in prison or else you'll ruin yourself,' he said. 'You have to be able to be like, 'OK, I'm not gonna miss my dog today.'' In April, Hodgkins shared a note Schmidt wrote in a Facebook post: 'Time moves differently in here. It drags, heavy and cruel…I haven't seen the sky in weeks.' After Schmidt was moved to the Wyatt, Hodgkins spent hours on the phone — with him, his family members, attorneys and others — trying to strategize how to secure his release and ensure his safety and comfort until then. She was forced to navigate the substantial financial burden of having a loved one detained at Wyatt. To supplement the Wyatt's food options, Schmidt needed to purchase food items from the commissary. He needed money to buy more toothpaste and soap because supplies issued to detainees didn't last very long. Hodgkins created accounts so Schmidt could receive packages and communicate with her, via phone or video-chat. 'Every single thing that you do at the Wyatt Detention Facility requires (a) form of payment,' she said. A receipt Hodgkins shared on Facebook shows, between March 12 and May 6, she spent more than $2,600 in deposits into the facility's TouchPay system — deposits requiring fees ranging from around 6% of a deposit to more than 40%. In one instance, she was charged a $4.30 fee for a $10 deposit. The total fees, across 25 deposits, add up to more than $220. Here, again, Hodgkins' experiences aligned with conditions described in AMOR's report, which says Wyatt contractors charge 'exorbitant' rates for basic services, including phone calls, text messages, and food to supplement insufficient nutrition. 'In the first two weeks of March, 20 people detained reported to AMOR that calls were too expensive,' the report's authors write. 'During the same period, 43 individuals made new requests for Commissary help.' As she navigated these new challenges, Hodgkins said she was dealing with waves of her own anger, anguish, and sadness. She was fearful for Fabian's health and safety, that he would be deported, that they would lose the life they had built together. Hodgkins rearranged her work schedule so she could make the 80-mile drive from Nashua to Central Falls in time to meet the facility's strict rules that visitors arrive at least 30 minutes before visiting hours. During one visit, she saw an elderly woman with a walker turned away for arriving too late. Hodgkins found the facility intimidating: a massive concrete building with small windows surrounded by tall razor wire fences. The 'visits' were, in fact, a phone conversation with Schmidt while the two were separated by glass in a room lit by fluorescent lights. Once, when she washed her hands inside the facility, she noticed the water had a yellowish tinge. 'I really hope that no one has to go there to see their loved ones, because it's truly horrible,' she said. ICE did not respond to multiple requests for comment. When Rhode Island Current reached out to the Wyatt with detailed questions about the conditions both Hodgkins and Schmidt described, a spokesperson responded: 'The Wyatt has no comment at this time.' When protesters assembled outside the Wyatt on March 18 to call for Schmidt's release, his lawyer, David Keller, said Schmidt's past issues in California had been resolved and there hadn't been any new official charges pressed against his client. 'Imagine yourself being charged with a crime, held, and not even knowing what the crime is,' he told reporters. 'That's essentially his situation.' (Keller was unavailable to comment for this story.) About a week later, Schmidt finally learned the reason for his detention: a misdemeanor charge for drug possession from California that had already been resolved. Schmidt had pleaded no contest to the charge in 2015, despite disputing that the drugs were his; he was unaware that the controlled-substance conviction marked him in the immigration system as inadmissible. He said he was never notified of these implications of a no-contest plea, nor had he been stopped by CBP after an earlier international trip in 2017. Once the immigration charges against Schmidt became clear, lawyers for Schmidt on both coasts swung into action. In California, a criminal attorney re-opened the drug case and was able to get it dismissed from the system. (Grounds for that dismissal: the substance Schmidt was charged with possessing had never been tested to confirm what it was.) In Boston, his immigration attorney worked to secure a hearing with an immigration judge. The hearing finally happened on May 8. The judge dismissed Schmidt's immigration case in minutes. Time moves differently in here. It drags, heavy and cruel…I haven't seen the sky in weeks. – Note from Schmidt posted by Bhavani Hodgkins on Facebook Schmidt and Hodgkins finally reunited outside of ICE's Boston field office in Burlington, Massachusetts. The days since then have been joyful. Shortly after his release, Schmidt proposed to Hodgkins. He has enjoyed regular walks with his dog, cooking dinner with Hodgkins and reconnecting with friends. But the couple's life together is much different from the way it used to be. Schmidt estimates his time in custody cost him at least $65,000, between legal fees, lost wages, and the many costs of his Wyatt detention. An online fundraiser by his mother raised over $34,000. A second fundraiser launched by Hodgkins 'to help aid other legal immigrants with injustice' is ongoing. The emotional toll has also been steep. In the early days after his release, he couldn't take a nap while home alone, afraid people might come for him while he was sleeping. Routine activities like a trip to the grocery store can now trigger waves of panic. He is wary about driving, fearful of being pulled over and detained again over a minor infraction. 'I have to be strong when he's not, and I can't show my fear as much because I don't want him to get fearful,' Hodgkins said. 'We're going to spend the rest of our life healing from this trauma.' The couple have embraced new roles as advocates for immigrants navigating an unforgiving system. They are calling for more transparency in the detention process, to spare others from the weeks of confusion they experienced. And they are speaking out against the heavy-handed response Schmidt faced for what was essentially a paperwork issue. As dark as his experience was, Schmidt said he benefited from privileges many other ICE detainees lack. He's a white man who speaks fluent English, with access to a top-notch legal team. 'I don't even want to know what's happening to other people,' he said. Although the Wyatt holds immigration-related detainees, Hodgkins wants people to understand it is designed to hold criminals. She said the staff there had no interest in helping her with the logistics of visitation or keeping her partner comfortable and connected while inside. 'They're not going to be nice to you,' she said. 'They're not going to be helpful to you.' Schmidt went back to work in early June. When he was away, his projects were either put on hold, or his work had to be delegated to other people, Wilson, his coworker, said. 'I'm very relieved that he's been released,' he said, 'and very concerned for our judicial system.' In a June 2 Facebook post, Hodgkins wrote about feeling anxious, even as Schmidt was excited about his first day back to work. 'No one prepares you for the fear and uncertainty that comes with being separated from a loved one under such traumatic circumstances,' she wrote. 'But today, we're beginning to find our rhythm again.' This story was originally published by Rhode Island Current. Like Maine Morning Star, Rhode Island Current is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Rhode Island Current maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Janine L. Weisman for questions: info@
Newsweek
16-05-2025
- Politics
- Newsweek
Green Card Holder Detained for Two Months Details 'Horrendous' Conditions
A green-card holder who was detained for more than 2 months said his treatment while in U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) custody was "horrendous." Fabian Schmidt, a New Hampshire resident and electrical engineer, was released on May 8 after being detained by federal authorities. Schmidt, who has had a green card since 2008 after moving to the U.S. from Germany in 2007, was taken into custody at Boston Logan International Airport in March upon returning from Luxembourg, he said. He later was transported and held in a Rhode Island detention facility. "It was degrading, it's dehumanizing. It is horrendous," Schmidt told GBH News. "People shouldn't be treated like that, especially when they're in distress." Newsweek has contacted U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and CBP for comment. Why It Matters Schmidt's case comes amid an immigration crackdown under the Trump administration. People with valid documentation—including green cards or visas—have been detained and face legal jeopardy. President Donald Trump has pledged to remove millions of migrants without legal status as part of his flagship immigration policy. A green-card holder has the right to live permanently in the U.S., provided they do not commit any actions that "would make you removable under immigration law," according to United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). A green card can be revoked if the recipient breaks U.S. laws or does not pay taxes. What To Know The 34-year-old recounted arriving at Logan and presenting his recently renewed green card to a CBP officer. He was then directed to a room for questioning. "As soon as I stepped foot in there, I started getting violently interrogated, verbally abused," he said. According to his family, Schmidt has no ongoing legal issues, though he faced a misdemeanor charge in 2015 for allegedly having marijuana in his vehicle. The charge was dismissed following changes in cannabis laws. His family said that Schmidt missed a court hearing related to the case in 2022 because the notice was not sent to his correct address. Schmidt recalled being questioned about his past legal issues, including a 2016 drug-related offense in California that was eventually dismissed and a DUI from the same year that led to fines and a probation sentence. He alleged that authorities conducted a strip search, confiscated his smartwatch, and refused to let him contact a lawyer, the German consulate or his family. The interrogation that followed, he said, focused on personal and financial details, such as the balance in his bank account, his parents' professions and their place of residence. "He told me I was a flight risk and that he was scared that I would enter through a southern border," Schmidt said. "I tried reminding him that I'm from Germany, I have a good family, none of us would ever sneak into a border, nor do I need to sneak into the border. I'm a legal permanent resident that's lived here for 18 years." At Logan, Schmidt said he was given a thin mat to sleep on, a cup of noodles with cold water, and a water bottle. Just over three hours later, he was awakened for additional questioning. Schmidt recalls that it was around the third day when agents told him he needed to take a shower. Feeling feverish and unwell, he declined, saying he didn't want to shower without a towel, fearing it would worsen his condition. "They didn't care. Two men brought me to this back room, made me strip down naked and tossed me into this freezing cold shower and then gave me a camping towel," he said, describing it as something you couldn't "dry an infant in." Schmidt told GBH News that he eventually fainted while on his way to the bathroom, recalling the moment he collapsed and hit the ground hard. When he regained consciousness, he informed an agent that he needed to be taken to a hospital. Schmidt said he was taken to Massachusetts General Hospital, where he was treated for the flu and a high fever while handcuffed to the bed. Despite a doctor's recommendation for rest and recovery, he was returned to the airport holding area, where he spent another 18 hours. Initially told he might be released with a court date, Schmidt instead learned he would be transferred to a detention facility. He was then placed in a secluded cell with unsanitary conditions. A few days after being detained, Schmidt said he was transported in shackles to the Donald W. Wyatt Detention Facility in Rhode Island. Along the way, he said CBP agents mocked him and made inappropriate comments. At Wyatt, Schmidt said, he was placed in a cell with a man reportedly charged with murder but noted that staff there acted professionally, unlike at the airport. After nearly two months in detention, Schmidt received word that he would be released. He was transferred to an ICE processing center in Burlington, Massachusetts, where his partner was waiting. "She [Bhavani] ran into my arms," Schmidt said. "I was just ecstatic as I finally got to hug her. It was a big moment to breathe fresh air and to have your partner back." Several green-card holders have been released from ICE detention in recent weeks. Critics argue that the Trump administration's detention and deportation policies frequently fail to provide adequate due process protections. Supporters maintain that the administration's crackdown is essential to remove people with criminal records. What People Are Saying
Yahoo
09-05-2025
- Yahoo
New Hampshire German-American returns home after being detained for two months by ICE
The Wyatt Detention Facility in Central Falls, Rhode Island, on Tuesday, March 18, 2025. Fabian Schmidt of Nashua was released from Wyatt this week and is now back at home. (Photo by Michael Salerno/Rhode Island Current) Fabian Schmidt, the German-American man who was detained by immigration officials in March and held at a detention center in Rhode Island, has returned to his home in Nashua, New Hampshire, his family said on social media. 'FABIAN IS FREE and HOME!!!!' his partner, Bhavani Hodgkins, wrote on Facebook Thursday. 'We ask for your patience and privacy as we navigate through this.' In the post, Hodgkins said she'd be providing updates and a video at a later date. Schmidt was born in Germany but has lived in the U.S. since he was a teenager. He is a legal permanent resident with a green card. On March 7, Schmidt, who currently lives in New Hampshire, was returning from Luxembourg when immigration officials detained him at Boston Logan International Airport and took him to the Wyatt Detention Facility in Central Falls, Rhode Island, according to his attorney. His family told reporters and attorneys that upon being detained, Schmidt was stripped naked, placed in a cold shower, violently interrogated, denied his medication for anxiety and depression, and given little food or water. They said officials asked him to relinquish his green card, and they didn't know why he was being detained. Officials with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security denied the allegations. 'These claims are blatantly false with respect to CBP,' Hilton Beckham, assistant commissioner of public affairs for Customs and Border Protection previously said in a statement to the Bulletin. 'When an individual is found with drug-related charges and tries to reenter the country, officers will take proper action.' The officials did not publicly provide justification for his detention. Schmidt is not the subject of any active criminal proceedings. However, according to court records in California, he faced misdemeanor charges for possession of a controlled substance and driving under the influence in 2015 and 2016, respectively, among other minor charges. His family said those cases had been resolved. GBH News was the first to report the news of Schmidt's release. His detention came amid the Trump administration's high-profile immigration agenda. That agenda has included a slew of deportations and immigration actions, including sending hundreds of men to a famously brutal prison in El Salvador. Among them is Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who the administration has acknowledged was mistakenly deported. International students who protested on their college campuses against Israeli military strikes on Palestinian civilians have also been detained. Additionally, other Germans have faced issues at U.S. borders. The New York Times reported that two German tourists — Jessica Brösche, who was held for 46 days, and Lucas Sielaff, who was held for 16 — were detained at the border trying to enter the country for vacation. Tourists from Germany are typically allowed visa-free travel to the U.S. for up to 90 days, but they were held in detention centers for weeks and then deported. New Hampshire Bulletin is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. New Hampshire Bulletin maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Dana Wormald for questions: info@ SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
09-05-2025
- Yahoo
Nashua German-American returns home after being detained for two months by ICE, family says
The Wyatt Detention Facility in Central Falls, Rhode Island, on Tuesday, March 18, 2025. Fabian Schmidt of Nashua was released from Wyatt this week and is now back at home. (Photo by Michael Salerno/Rhode Island Current) Fabian Schmidt, the German-American man who was detained by immigration officials in March and held at a Rhode Island jail, has returned to his home in Nashua, his family said on social media. 'FABIAN IS FREE and HOME!!!!' his partner, Bhavani Hodgkins, wrote on Facebook Thursday. 'We ask for your patience and privacy as we navigate through this.' In the post, Hodgkins said she'd be providing updates and a video at a later date. Schmidt was born in Germany but has lived in the U.S. since he was a teenager. He is a legal permanent resident with a green card. On March 7, Schmidt, who currently lives in New Hampshire, was returning from Luxembourg when immigration officials detained him at Boston Logan International Airport and took him to the Wyatt Detention Facility in Central Falls, Rhode Island, according to his attorney. His family told reporters and attorneys that upon being detained, Schmidt was stripped naked, placed in a cold shower, violently interrogated, denied his medication for anxiety and depression, and given little food or water. They said officials asked him to relinquish his green card, and they didn't know why he was being detained. Officials with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security denied the allegations. 'These claims are blatantly false with respect to CBP,' Hilton Beckham, assistant commissioner of public affairs for Customs and Border Protection previously said in a statement to the Bulletin. 'When an individual is found with drug-related charges and tries to reenter the country, officers will take proper action.' The officials did not publicly provide justification for his detention. Schmidt is not the subject of any active criminal proceedings. However, according to court records in California, he faced misdemeanor charges for possession of a controlled substance and driving under the influence in 2015 and 2016, respectively, among other minor charges. His family said those cases had been resolved. GBH News was the first to report the news of Schmidt's release. His detention came amid the Trump administration's high-profile immigration agenda. That agenda has included a slew of deportations and immigration actions, including sending hundreds of men to a famously brutal prison in El Salvador. Among them is Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who the administration has acknowledged was mistakenly deported. International students who protested on their college campuses against Israeli military strikes on Palestinian civilians have also been detained. Additionally, other Germans have faced issues at U.S. borders. The New York Times reported that two German tourists — Jessica Brösche, who was held for 46 days, and Lucas Sielaff, who was held for 16 — were detained at the border trying to enter the country for vacation. Tourists from Germany are typically allowed visa-free travel to the U.S. for up to 90 days, but they were held in detention centers for weeks and then deported.
Yahoo
15-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
A German-American from Nashua has been jailed for more than a month. It's still unclear why.
Protesters gather to demand freedom and due process for Fabian Schmidt — a German-born New Hampshire man being held at the Wyatt Detention Facility in Central Falls, Rhode Island, on Tuesday, March 18, 2025. Left foreground, Zack Mezera of Working Families Party speaks to the crowd with Fr. Jarrett Kerbel of Saint Luke's in East Greenwich at bottom right. (Photo by Michael Salerno/Rhode Island Current) Fabian Schmidt, a German-American man living in Nashua, was returning home from a visit to Luxembourg on March 7 when he was detained by immigration officials at Boston Logan International Airport in early March and taken to a detention center in Rhode Island, according to his attorney. Schmidt's family said that, upon his detainment, Schmidt was stripped naked, placed in a cold shower, and violently interrogated, according to a press release from attorney David Keller. He was also reportedly being denied his medications for anxiety and depression, and being given little food and water as officials pressured him to relinquish his green card. His mother, Astrid Senior, told NBC News that she doesn't know why her son was being held. 'I feel helpless, absolutely helpless,' she told the news broadcaster. Schmidt has lived in the U.S. since he was a teenager and has legal permanent resident status, according to the family. Court records in California, where he previously lived, show that he faced misdemeanor charges for possession of a controlled substance and driving under the influence in 2015 and 2016, respectively, among other minor charges. However, his family said those issues had been resolved in the courts and are no longer ongoing. Officials with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security — which includes Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection — have not provided a justification for Schmidt's detainment. They have, however, denied the allegations that he was violently interrogated. 'These claims are blatantly false with respect to CBP,' Hilton Beckham, assistant commissioner of public affairs for Customs and Border Protection said in a statement to the Bulletin. 'When an individual is found with drug-related charges and tries to reenter the country, officers will take proper action.' Schmidt has a court date scheduled in June in Boston. U.S. Sen. Maggie Hassan said her office, in collaboration with Sen. Jeanne Shaheen's office, has inquired within DHS and spoken with Schmidt's family. She declined to speak on the issue during an event Monday, and said she is 'honoring the wishes of the family and their legal advisers.' 'We are in touch with Homeland Security and Mr. Schmidt's family, but we are also respecting their privacy,' Hassan said. 'There's ongoing litigation about it, so we will respect the privacy but we continue to be in touch with them.' She would not say whether she knows the justification for his detainment. Gov. Kelly Ayotte's office did not respond to requests for comment. Schmidt is not the only legal U.S. immigrant to be part of a high profile legal battle over their immigration status. President Donald Trump, who made cracking down on immigration and mass deportation central tenets of his campaign in 2024, and his administration have launched a public campaign of deportations and detainments that have been decried as illegal and unethical after being reported by the press. In one of the highest profile immigration-related incidents, Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University graduate student and an Algerian citizen with permanent legal resident status in the U.S., was arrested by ICE officials in his New York City apartment on March 8, one day after Schmidt was detained. Khalil, who was born to Palestinian parents in a refugee enclave in Syria before ultimately immigrating to the U.S. and marrying a citizen, was an organizer of protests on Columbia University's campus against the Israeli occupation and military action in Gaza. The State Department is currently attempting to revoke his legal status in the country and deport him as punishment for his role in the protests, a move that has generated an uproar among progressives and immigration advocates who believe Khalil has a protected right to free speech. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Khalil engaged in 'antisemitic protests and disruptive activities, which foster a hostile environment for Jewish students in the U.S.' On Friday, a judge in Louisiana ruled that the State Department can deport Khalil. A federal court in New Jersey is expected to hear further appeals in the case. Several other university students who protested Israel's war in Gaza have also been targeted by the Trump administration. Tufts University Ph.D. student Rümeysa Öztürk, from Turkey with a student visa, was arrested by ICE agents on March 25 in Somerville, Mass. Video of her arrest, which shows six agents in plain clothes, some of whom were obscuring their badges or wearing hoods or face coverings, went viral online and sparked furor. While federal officials have not publicly provided justification for her arrest, Öztürk was the author of a 2024 op-ed in the university's student newspaper calling for the university to 'acknowledge the Palestinian genocide' and 'disclose its investments and divest from companies with direct or indirect ties to Israel.' Hamas was not mentioned in the op-ed. Another Columbia University student, Yunseo Chung, an undergraduate student who has lived in the U.S. since she was 7 and is a permanent legal resident, was another target of ICE after the administration attempted to deport her over her involvement in the pro-Palesintian protests. However, the administration has been so far unsuccessful in deporting the woman, who was born in South Korea, amid a legal battle. Rubio, in a press conference last month, said the Trump administration has revoked over 300 visas of students who have engaged in pro-Palestine protest activity. The Trump administration has also moved to purge Venezuelan and other Latin American migrants from the country under the auspices that they have connections to the violent Tren de Aragua and MS-13 gangs. In March, the Trump administration flew 238 men to El Salvador with no due process. There, they are being detained in a notorious mega prison called the Terrorism Confinement Center, known for brutal conditions and under the control of Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, who has described himself as 'world's coolest dictator.' The administration reportedly used some of the men's tattoos and clothing as the sole evidence of their gang affiliations. However, an analysis of those deportees by CBS News found no criminal records for 179, or roughly 75%, of them. That includes Kilmar Ábrego García, a Salvadoran citizen who's lived in Maryland for 15 years. Even after admitting in court it deported him due to 'administrative error,' the Trump administration refuses to bring Ábrego García back to the U.S., saying it is up to Salvadoran officials to decide his fate. This is despite the Supreme Court ordering the Trump administration to 'facilitate' his return to the country. In an appearance at the White House Monday, Bukele said he would not return Ábrego García, calling the idea 'preposterous' and asking, 'How can I smuggle a terrorist into the United States?' Those deported also include a makeup artist who immigrated from Venezuela to California in August named Andry Hernandez Romero. He had no criminal record, no known gang affiliation, and was undergoing the asylum process after fleeing his country over fears he would be persecuted for being gay and his political beliefs, according to his lawyers. Trump invoked the 1798 Alien Enemies Act in these Salvadoran deportations. The move has been criticized for refusing to give the men due process and for its brutality. Rubio said Sunday that another 10 people have been sent to El Salvador. On Friday, Trump authorized the military to take control of land along the southern border. His announced plan is to station military troops there to detain immigrants traveling into the country from Mexico. He has also previously declared a national emergency arguing 'America's sovereignty is under attack' and that the border is 'overrun by cartels, criminal gangs, known terrorists, human traffickers, smugglers, unvetted military-age males from foreign adversaries, and illicit narcotics that harm Americans.'
