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A New Hampshire man with a green card was detained by immigration officers at Logan Airport and is being held by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement at the Donald W. Wyatt detention facility in Central Falls, Rhode Island.
Fabian Schmidt鈥檚 family said they are unsure of why he is being held. They said he has a recently renewed green card, and no active issues in court.
Schmidt had been visiting Luxembourg and flew back to the U.S. on Friday. His partner had gone to pick him up at Logan Airport, and waited four hours before calling authorities.
鈥淚t was just said that his green card was flagged,鈥� said Astrid Senior, his mother. She said she didn鈥檛 hear from her son directly until Tuesday, when she learned he鈥檇 been hospitalized.
Senior described Schmidt being 鈥渧iolently interrogated鈥� at Logan Airport for hours, and being stripped naked, put in a cold shower by two officials, and being put back onto a chair.
She said Schmidt told her immigration agents pressured him to give up his green card. She said he was placed on a mat in a bright room with other people at the airport, with little food or water, suffered sleep deprivation, and was denied access to his medication for anxiety and depression.
鈥淗e hardly got anything to drink. And then he wasn鈥檛 feeling very well and he collapsed,鈥� said Senior.
He was transported by ambulance to Mass General Hospital. He didn鈥檛 know it at the time, but he also had influenza.
On Tuesday, Schmidt was transported to the regional headquarters for ICE in Burlington, Massachusetts, and then transferred to the Wyatt facility. The family, including his partner, who is a cardiologist in Nashua, have acquired attorneys and been working with the German consulate in hopes to have him released on bail.
Schmidt and his mother moved to the U.S. in 2007, and received green cards in 2008. He moved from California to New Hampshire in 2022.
Senior described her son as a hardworking electrical engineer with a partner and 8-year-old daughter who are both U.S. citizens.
鈥淔abian said to me that he feels he鈥檚 very fearful and is frightened,鈥� said Senior.
Schmidt had a misdemeanor charge for having marijuana in his car in 2015, which his mother said was dismissed after laws changed in California around marijuana possession. He missed a hearing about the case in 2022 since a notice was never forwarded to his new address. Senior mentioned that Schmidt is successfully recovering from alcoholism, and had a DUI that he鈥檚 completely worked through and paid off from around ten years ago.
Can a green card holder be deported?
It鈥檚 a complicated question, but some protections exist.
Green cards grant foreign nationals the right to live and work in the U.S. as permanent residents. They鈥檙e valid for ten years and have to new renewed.
鈥淥nly the immigration judge can take away that green card. The Trump administration thinks that they can expand that and do some crazy things,鈥� said Curtis Morrison, an immigration attorney in California with experience litigating against the Trump administration. 鈥淏ut the law as it is now 鈥� he needs to be able to appear before an immigration judge.鈥�
The government has to initiate removal proceedings in immigration court, and an individual has the right to go before a judge to defend themselves and understand the government reasoning for the potential deportation.
鈥淸It鈥檚 the] Immigration and Nationality Act 鈥� which describes different kinds of conduct or crimes that could trigger somebody with a green card being deported and put into court proceedings to have them deported,鈥� said Gregory Chen, senior director of government relations for the American Immigration Lawyers Association.
The law doesn鈥檛 always require convictions for green card holders to be deported.
鈥淭here is a of behaviors, conduct and also crimes. If somebody鈥檚 been convicted of something that could make somebody deportable if they have a green card,鈥� he said.
Chen hadn鈥檛 heard of other green card cases like Schmidt鈥檚 other than that of Palestinian and Syrian student activist Mahmoud Khalid in New York City, a green card holder who is currently detained due to his protest activity at Columbia University. In that case, attorneys are relying partially on First Amendment right of protest.
鈥淲e have seen a disturbing trend from the federal government to target people who have legal immigration status,鈥� said Chen, including not just those who have green cards, but people with visas and varying legal statuses.
鈥淒enying a green card holder admission on such a minor charge would be an extreme case, but it is possible under the law,鈥� said Jaclyn Kelley-Widmer, immigration law professor at Cornell Law School of the pot possession charge and deportation.
The reasons a green card holder can be deported include many kinds of criminal convictions, even if those convictions are from a long time ago and even some very minor convictions. For marijuana convictions, a person is deportable unless the conviction is for possession of 30 grams or less of marijuana for one鈥檚 own use, she said. Otherwise, any controlled substances offense makes a green card holder deportable.
