Green card holder from New Hampshire recounts his ‘scary’ months in ICE custody

By Arielle Mitropoulos

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    NASHUA, New Hampshire (WMUR) — It has been 11 days since Fabian Schmidt, a green-card holder and German National, who calls Nashua home, was released from the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, after spending two months in a jail cell; however, the anxiety of the experience is still weighing heavily on his mind.

“You’re still scared every once in a while. When a black car goes by, I’m still, like, a little intimidated by the situation,” Schmidt told News 9 in his first television sit-down interview.

Schmidt’s process of getting out of ICE detention has been long and arduous, as he faced legal hurdles.

Schmidt, 34, said he flew back from Luxembourg on March 7, after spending 10 days in Germany visiting his father. When he went to go through Immigration and Border Control at Logan Airport, he was stopped, where Schmidt said he was violently interrogated and strip-searched.

“How much money do you have in your bank account? What do your parents do for a living? Where do you live? How long is your lease? Professional records, and then they were saying that my green card was flagged,” Schmidt said, when asked how agents interrogated him.

After he was initially questioned, Schmidt said that he was stripped naked and searched at the airport.

“It’s scary, right? So they strip search you, take off your clothes, make sure you don’t have anything on you, and I’m sorry, but I don’t know about you, but I don’t get strip searched all the time,” Schmidt said. “I was then put against the wall, shook down. My suitcases were searched in front of me, and I remember just being treated, like, with prejudice. It was almost, like, I kept on hearing words, it was like bullies making fun of me.”

Schimdt said he then became so ill with the flu that he collapsed in a bathroom.

“My body shut down on me,” Schmidt said, adding that he was then transported to Mass General Hospital for four hours before he was brought back to Logan Airport for several more days. Police at the time confirmed he was transported to the hospital for care.

During this period at the airport, Schmidt said his family, including his 8-year-old daughter, had no idea where he was.

“They didn’t give me a single phone call, nor was able to call my attorney, nor was I able to get any kind of contact to the outside,” Schmidt said.

He was only given cups of noodles to eat for several days.

“Every single day was getting more intense pressure on, those verbal interactions I had with Border Patrol officers,” Schmidt said, further claiming he was pushed to give up his green card. “U.S. Customs guys were trying to get me to give up my green card and sign away. So that way I would be able to, you know, get deported back to my country. I told them the United States was my country. This is where I’m from. This is where my people are.”

Schmidt told News 9 that he was then transported to the Wyatt Detention Facility in Rhode Island, where he would spend the next approximately two months.

“When I saw this big, giant concrete building with barbed wire fences, maximum security prison. I was like, ‘You got him kidding me, right? For what? What did I even do?'” Schmidt recalled, adding that he still felt confident that they would find that this is all a mistake.

Despite his questions, Schmidt said that he was never given a clear explanation as to why authorities were detaining him. However, he said that he and his lawyers ultimately believed that the root of his detention, and the reason there was a flag on his green card, was a misdemeanor charge from 2015 in California, where Schmidt used to reside.

California court records reviewed by News 9 confirm the misdemeanor, as well as other run-ins with the law, including a DUI.

“I was in there with terrorists, human traffickers, a guy [who] raped an 8-year-old girl, someone that murdered three people, and that’s the people I’m in house within the maximum-security prison for a dismissed misdemeanor drug possession charge. That was 2015,” Schmidt said.

Schmidt said that he completed community service and rehab. Court records confirm that Schmidt completed a recovery program in Nashua in May 2024. Schmidt also said that he received a new green card in January 2024.

According to Schmidt, that specific drug-related misdemeanor was dismissed, and that at no point in time, in California, or elsewhere, was he informed that he was at-risk of deportation or not being allowed back into the country, if he were to leave, because of his misdemeanor.

“These guys at the border patrol, they made me feel like I wasn’t even home anymore. They made me feel like this is not the people that I love. This is not the country that I love,” Schmidt said. “I was like, I remember at one point telling us, like, ‘Dude, my daughter was born here eight years ago, and I moved here 18 years ago. So, how can you explain that this is not my home? I want to hear your point on why this is not my home, or why this shouldn’t be my home anymore because of a misdemeanor charge in 2015.'”

After more than 60 days behind bars, he was released. He said that he is now trying to figure out how to move forward, as he experiences anxiety and symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder.

“I don’t want to be scared living in the country I love. I don’t want to be scared going to the airport because I was born somewhere else and made this in my home,” Schmidt said.

Schmidt is calling for transparency, given how little information was provided to him and his family during this process. He said that he sees many issues with the immigration system that must be fixed, and that he hopes sharing his story, will help address the problems in this changing process.

“People are falling through the gaps. Irrational decisions are being made on a broken system. It makes no sense to put this much pressure on a broken system,” Schmidt said, adding that he believes violent criminals should be deported.

He said that he does not want to get political, but believes that people can work together to make this process work better, without hurting individuals and families who get caught in the crossfire.

Even after his detention, he said that he still believes in the promise of this country.

“The people in this country are so beautiful and so kind. That doesn’t matter. It’s not going to make me not love this country, because the government is making some sort of changes,” Schmidt said. “When I fall in love with something or someone, I don’t give up that easy. And I fell in love with this country. So I’m not going to let a bunch of ice guys or Border Patrol guys tell me where I should, and I shouldn’t be, because I knew that in the court of law, I did the right thing.”

News 9 reached out to ICE to corroborate Schmidt’s claims, and to allow for any response to his accusations, but did not immediately hear back. ICE also did not confirm the status of Schmidt’s case.

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