This story was originally produced by The Public's Radio. NHPR is republishing it in partnership with the New England News Collaborative.
A lawyer for a who is being held by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement at the Donald W. Wyatt detention facility in Central Falls, Rhode Island, says his client鈥檚 spirit is starting to deflate.
Lawyer David Keller told several dozen protesters and three reporters outside the jail where Fabian Schmidt is being held that his client is sitting in legal 鈥渓imbo鈥� while he awaits to find out if and what he has been charged with.
鈥淚'm quite taken by his charm, his charisma, his beautiful, hopeful attitude, and that's a horrible thing to crush in a situation like this,鈥� said the lawyer, who is with Keller Law Group in Worcester, Mass.
Schmidt, who is originally from Germany, has been detained for nearly 2 weeks. According to Keller, Schmidt was stopped at Logan Airport on March 7 and was interrogated with 鈥渦nnecessary tactics imposed.鈥� Keller said during Schmidt鈥檚 questioning U.S. Customs and Border Protection interrogators used 鈥渄uress鈥� as a tactic to try to get him to sign away his green card, which Schmidt declined to do.
鈥淚t broke him to the point where, medically speaking, he needed to be transported to the hospital,鈥� Keller said.
Keller said Schmidt was diagnosed with influenza B and released after about a day.
Although Schmidt is now 鈥渇eeling better,鈥� Keller says the case cannot move forward until the U.S. Department of Homeland Security sends Schmidt a notice to appear. Keller says he does not know why Schmidt is being detained, and that previous charges Schmidt incurred while living in California have been resolved. GBH reported that Schmidt had a misdemeanor charge for having marijuana in his car in 2015.
鈥淭hese claims are blatantly false with respect to CBP,鈥� Hilton Beckham, CBP鈥檚 Assistant Commissioner for Public Affairs, . 鈥淲hen an individual is found with drug related charges and tries to reenter the country, officers will take proper action,鈥� she wrote.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Keller鈥檚 comments came as several dozen protesters had gathered to speak out against Schmidt鈥檚 detention. The protesters stood for a little more than an hour in front of the for-profit prison, where they spoke, sang and chanted as inmates intermittently banged on the narrow windows of their cells in the background. The protesters also invoked other legal U.S. residents who had been deported, such as Rhode Island resident and nephrologist , and former Columbia graduate student .
鈥淯nfortunately, this is a trend that we're seeing,鈥� Keller said, 鈥渢hat there are people with lawful status that are being stopped at our borders and mistreated.鈥�
