German National With Green Card Being Held By ICE, Authorities Won’t Say Why

Fabian Schmidt, a German national who is a legal permanent U.S. resident, was reportedly arrested and interrogated by U.S. immigration authorities upon his arrival at Boston Logan Airport after visiting family in Germany. The 34-year-old arrived on March 7 and is currently being held at a federal detention facility in Rhode Island, according to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement online database. His mother, Astrid Senior, and his partner, Bhavani Hodgkins, say they have not been told why Schmidt is being held.

Fabian Schmidt was arrested and interrogated at the Boston airport, according to his mother and partner. They say they do not know why he is being held in an ICE facility. [image or embed]

— NBC News (@nbcnews.com) March 17, 2025 at 11:45 AM

An assistant commissioner of public affairs at U.S. Customs and Border Patrol told NBC News in an email: “If statutes or visa terms are violated, travelers may be subject to detention and removal.” More from NBC News:

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.

The mother says her son called her from the ICE facility on March 11 and shared his account of events leading up to his detention. She said she has not heard from him since. A GoFundMe page set up to help pay for his legal bills shares:

Upon arrival in Boston he was detained by border control. His perfectly valid Green Card had been tagged because he had failed to attend a hearing for which he had never received an invitation for. (It was sent to an address where he was no longer living).

The page goes on to note that Schmidt had recently been issued a new Green Card (having lost the original) but in the process of acquiring the new card, U.S. Immigration did not inform him of the outstanding hearing he had missed.