On March 7, German national and permanent U.S. resident Fabian Schmidt was detained by Customs and Border Protection officers at Boston Logan International Airport after returning from Luxembourg.
Schmidt is currently being held by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement at the Donald W. Wyatt Detention Facility in Central Falls, R.I. “without clear charges or justification,” according to his lawyer David Keller.
Schmidt’s family alleged that he “was subjected to a ‘violent interrogation,’ stripped and placed in a cold shower,” according to a press release from Keller Law Group, the law firm representing Schmidt. Following this interrogation, Schmidt was hospitalized with the flu and released from the hospital after one day.
The U.S. CBP directed The Herald to several X posts by Tricia McLaughlin, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s assistant secretary for public affairs. In response to an X post that included excerpts from an article with claims about Schmidt’s alleged abuse, McLaughlin wrote “this is flat-out FALSE.”
“My client is a lawful permanent resident entitled to due process. We demand transparency, fairness and respect for his fundamental rights,” Keller said in the press release.
As of March 18, Keller said that DHS has not issued Schmidt a notice to appear, which is a document that instructs a detained individual to appear before a federal immigration judge, according to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. The document also typically includes the charges entered against the individual and the grounds for removal, according to the Immigrant Legal Resource Center.
Without the NTA, Schmidt’s case “cannot proceed in immigration court,” putting him in a legal limbo with prolonged detention, Keller added.
A hearing in Schmidt’s case is scheduled in a Boston immigration court in June. The DHS must issue an NTA “at least ten days before the first hearing,” according to the Immigrant Legal Resource Center.
On March 18, the Rhode Island Working Families Party held a rally outside of the detention center to call on legislators to demand Schmidt’s release and end ICE raids in the state, according to a RIWFP press release.
“This case in particular was shocking because Fabian Schmidt had, as far as we understand, a perfectly valid, up-to-date green card,” said RIWFP Political Director Zack Mezera ’13 in an interview with The Herald.
He noted that while Schmidt did have a misdemeanor drug charge in 2015 for marijuana possession in California, the case was dismissed after the state’s marijuana possession laws changed. “He didn’t have any outstanding criminal record,” Mezera said.
“You can’t look at the case and figure out any kind of reason why this guy is being held alone in a federal prison,” Mezera added. “You should understand why you’re being arrested. You should understand why you’re being detained.”
“These claims are blatantly false with respect to CBP,” said Assistant Commissioner of Public Affairs Hilton Beckham in a statement sent to The Herald. “When an individual is found with drug-related charges and tries to reenter the country, officers will take proper action.”
In the past, Wyatt has faced numerous allegations of mistreatment of detainees. The facility was sued for medical neglect in both 2009 and 2021. In a lawsuit filed in 2020, one detainee’s lawsuit alleged that several staff members retaliated against him after he filed grievances against correctional officers.
Wyatt is currently “being used as a storage facility, essentially, for human beings who are being picked up” by CBP and ICE, Mezera added.
Wyatt did not respond to The Herald’s request for comment at time of publication.
In 2019, Central Falls City Council members expressed wishes to cancel Wyatt’s contract with ICE and close the facility. But Wyatt bondholders filed a lawsuit to reinstate their contract, claiming it would cost them $130 million.
“It’s going to cost a lot of money, honestly, to close down Wyatt,” Mezera said. Legislators “don’t want to saddle” Central Falls with these costs, given that the city has a history of financial struggles and was the first city in the state to go bankrupt in 2011.
But if local leaders leave detention centers like Wyatt open, “the worst people are going to come around and use them,” Mezera added. “That’s exactly what happened here.”
Mezera expressed disappointment and concern with what he described as a lack of attention on Schmidt’s case from state legislators, adding that many legislators do not prioritize defending immigrants as they “are not elected from areas where there are large immigrant populations.”
As a result, “people like Fabian Schmidt fall through the cracks,” Mezera said.
“This case is more than a legal battle for one man’s freedom,” Keller Law Group wrote in the press release. “It raises critical questions about how lawful residents are treated upon reentry to the U.S. and the accountability of immigration enforcement agencies.”
Avani Ghosh is a Metro editor covering city and state politics. She is a junior from Ohio studying Health and Human Biology and International and Public Affairs. She is an avid earl grey enthusiast and can be found making tea in her free time.
