Fabian Schmidt, a German citizen and US green card holder, was arrested by US immigration officials at Logan International Airport on March 7. Schmidt, 34, lives in New Hampshire and had recently returned from Luxembourg when he was detained. According to his family, he was ‘violently interrogated’, naked, and subjected to a cold shower in an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) holding centre.
Schmidt’s mother, Astrid Senior, expressed her shock and distress over the incident. She said, “It was just said that his green card was flagged,” She added that her son’s green card had been reissued legally in 2023 after he lost his previous one, yet it was flagged when he attempted to reenter the United States.
Senior also reported that immigration officials told him his green card was flagged, although he did not receive a particular reason. ICE referred questions to US Customs and Border Protection (CBP), which would not provide details, citing privacy laws.
The case has been highly emotive on the internet, particularly for those green card holders who are also experiencing such treatment. There has been outrage among social media users, with one person saying, “So they just tortured some German guy for no reason?”
So they just tortured some German guy for no reason? pic.twitter.com/3JHDH5qqCn
— Matthew Yglesias (@mattyglesias) March 15, 2025
Others accused the actions of being part of what they viewed as the “xenophobic agenda” of the Trump administration, with one saying, “This isn’t about protecting our national security, this is simply the Trump admin’s xenophobic agenda.”
