German national with U.S. green card detained at ICE facility, family says
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
By Daniel Arkin
U.S. immigration authorities arrested and interrogated a German national who is a legal permanent U.S. resident at Boston Logan International Airport on March 7, according to the man's mother and his partner. Days later, he was transferred to a federal detention facility.
Fabian Schmidt, 34, is now being held at the Wyatt Detention Center in Central Falls, Rhode Island, according to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement online database. ICE did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In an emailed statement Monday, an assistant commissioner of public affairs at U.S. Customs and Border Patrol said: "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," said the assistant commissioner, Hilton Beckham.
Astrid Senior, Schmidt's mother, said she and her son moved to the U.S. from Germany in 2007 and received green cards in 2008. He lives in New Hampshire and renewed his legal permanent resident status last year, she said.
Senior said she has no idea why her son is being detained by U.S. immigration officials.She said her son, who once lived in California, faced misdemeanor charges roughly a decade ago. He has no active legal or court issues, Senior said.
"I feel helpless. Absolutely helpless," Senior said.
Senior and Schmidt's partner, Bhavani Hodgkins, confirmed the family has retained a lawyer to work on his case. The lawyer, David Keller, did not immediately respond to an email and text message requesting more information Monday.
In recent weeks, President Donald Trump's administration has ramped up border enforcement and moved to tighten immigration policies. Schmidt's case raises questions about how federal immigration officials will treat people who are permanent legal residents.
The news of Schmidt's arrest and detention was first reported by WGBH, a Boston area public television station.
Senior, who also lives in New Hampshire, said Schmidt called her from the ICE facility on March 11 and provided his account of events leading up to his detention. She said she has not heard from him since.
Schmidt, an electrical engineer, recently traveled to Germany for seven days to visit family and flew into Boston Logan from Luxembourg on March 7, Senior said.
Hodgkins was supposed to pick him up and drive him back to the home in Nashua they share with their child, who is a U.S. citizen. Hodgkins called the authorities when he did not appear after several hours, Senior said.
Senior said Schmidt told her that he was interrogated at the airport, though she declined to provide specifics. He required medical attention at some point during the interrogation and he was taken to Massachusetts General Hospital, Senior said.
Benjamin Crawley, a spokesman for the Massachusetts Port Authority, which owns and operates Boston Logan, said in an email: "We don't have any information on this case." He referred NBC News to CBP.
In an emailed statement, Sgt. Gregory Jones of the Massachusetts State Police said authorities dispatched a trooper to a medical call at the customs hall in Boston Logan's Terminal E shortly before 8 a.m. on March 10.
"Boston EMS also responded and determined that the individual required transport to a local hospital," Jones said. CBP personnel "accompanied the individual to the hospital as they were not able to process the individual through customs prior to the transport."
Mass General's press office did not immediately respond to an email seeking information about Schmidt.
In an email, a German official at the German embassy in Washington, D.C., said it was "aware of the case and has been in close contact about it with the relevant U.S. authorities as well as the family of the concerned person."
"We kindly ask for your understanding that for reasons of privacy and data protection laws, we cannot provide any further details on the case," the official said. "Considering the procedures of the Customs and Border authorities, please refer to the relevant U.S. authorities."
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I didn't think this was supposed to happen to Europeans
We were told they were ONLY going to go after criminals... I can't believe they lied. /s
Considering there's a lot of information that is missing here, I think the statement of they lied may be premature.
lol
Not when you consider the sheer amount of reporting over the last month on the subject. I've read about US Veterans with status, US citizens, green card holders, people married to citizens who've applied for status and even a Canadian actress and business person who was stopped at a border crossing for an incomplete 4 week work visa that was held in inhumane conditions for 2 weeks until she was released back to Canada.
What's more do I need to consider?
Then post a seed about all those others. This seed is about one individual.
I've stated for years that I do not trust main-stream media so all that reporting you mention comes from sources that I hold suspect and who I believe slant their reporting in order to generate clicks which means more advertising money for them.
How would you know what sources evil is using. He didn't list any
I did not ask for sources as my statement seemed clear to me. I do not trust main-stream media. I didn't ask for sources as I don't trust any of them to be fully trustworthy, they will slant their stories for money. As this seed was about one single individual....
I would, but there is this...
This type of acknowledgement feels like I'd be wasting limited time.
But that's not going to stop some from setting their hair on fire and run in circles with that little information provided.
There was plenty of information to start folks hair on fire and run around. S/
From the article:
ICE did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
"Due to federal privacy regulations, U.S. Customs and Border Protection cannot disclose details about specific cases," said the assistant commissioner, Hilton Beckham.
Senior and Schmidt's partner, Bhavani Hodgkins, confirmed the family has retained a lawyer to work on his case. The lawyer, David Keller, did not immediately respond to an email and text message requesting more information Monday.
Benjamin Crawley, a spokesman for the Massachusetts Port Authority, which owns and operates Boston Logan, said in an email: "We don't have any information on this case."
Mass General's press office did not immediately respond to an email seeking information about Schmidt.
"We kindly ask for your understanding that for reasons of privacy and data protection laws, we cannot provide any further details on the case," the official said. "Considering the procedures of the Customs and Border authorities, please refer to the relevant U.S. authorities."
My understanding of that case is that her visa had been for revoked for some reason, and when she was denied entry at the Canadian border, she went to Mexico to try to get in that way. If that’s the case, it indicates she knowingly tried to enter the country without permission, which is actually a crime. That tempers whatever sympathy I might have had for her.
Having said that, I don’t see how that justifies holding her for two weeks.
I don't think that was in the article I read, but I read it at work this morning and I tend to read things fast, so maybe I missed it.
She met with an immigration lawyer at the border and apparently routine issues that worked in the past now get you tossed in a cell worse than we treat murders, pedofiles and rapists.
Incorrect, the lady in question was already in California on a visa opening a company. She went to Mexico for business reasons and tried to return ... a no-no in that a Visa holder cannot return to the US via another country than the one said Visa was issued in.
I made the same mistake in 2010 and was held by ICE in Houston for 24 hours in handcuffs and legirons ... served a single stale sliced 'cheese' sandwich and kept awake throughout the night by agents having a very loud prayer meeting. Shared a cell with at least a dozen others ... 'beds' were but 1/2" solid steel plates.
And with all that, our friends on the left are set to their normal freak out mode making shit up as they go.
We’re seeing more and more of these stories, which I agree can be concerning, but we don’t know all the details of each case. If our agents are enforcing the laws we have on the books, I can’t really fault them. I fault our Congress for not fixing this years ago.
What most concerns me is the detention of people for extended periods. This seems to violate due process and sounds inhumane. It’s hard to believe that the law will allow for that kind of thing with someone who doesn’t seem to be a criminal, but again, we don’t know the details. I am glad to hear this person has a lawyer, so at least that’s something.