The family of a German national who has been in the U.S. on a green card for 17 years and was arrested at Boston Logan International Airport has no idea why he is being detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Fabian Schmidt joins a growing number of visa and green card holders in the U.S. who have found themselves swept up in the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration crackdown.
The 34-year-old electrical engineer has held a green card since 2008 and renewed it last year, according to his mother, Astrid Senior, who also lives in the U.S. on a green card.
He was arrested at Boston Logan International Airport on March 7 after returning from a short vacation visiting family in Germany. Senior claimed he was “interrogated” before being taken to Rhode Island’s Wyatt Detention Center in Central Falls. She has not heard from her son since March 11.
“I feel helpless. Absolutely helpless,” Senior told NBC News.
Schmidt, who lives in Nashua, New Hampshire, with his partner and child, faced a misdemeanor charge a decade ago but has no active legal issues, Senior told the outlet.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection assistant commissioner, Hilton Beckham, said in a statement: “If statutes or visa terms are violated, travelers may be subject to detention and removal.”
“Due to federal privacy regulations, U.S. Customs and Border Protection cannot disclose details about specific cases,” Beckham added.
The family claims that Schmidt was forced to strip naked before being placed in a cold shower and shoved back into a chair, according to reports. His family said agents pressured him to give up his green card. He was also held without food or water, and taken to the hospital after collapsing from the flu, his mother claimed.
A Customs and Border Protection spokesperson blasted the claims as ‘false.’
Senior has launched a Gofundme page to support Schmidt’s legal fees. It has so far raised over $4,000. “His legal costs are now racking up, and obviously he is not able to work and earn,” Senior said. “He really needs our help.”
The case comes as Ivy League Dr. Rasha Alawieh was deported to Lebanon despite a court order that she stay in the U.S. until a court could determine more details of her case. Alawieh, a Brown Medicine doctor specializing in kidneys, must stay in Lebanon for now while a federal judge hears arguments to determine whether Donald Trump’s administration intentionally defied a court order to halt her deportation.
Alawieh was also detained at Boston Logan International Airport Thursday after returning from a trip visiting family in Lebanon.
