Ivy League Professor Faces Removal After Synagogue BB Gun Incident

In a case that has drawn national scrutiny to campus safety and immigration enforcement, Carlos Portugal Gouvêa, a visiting Harvard Law School professor, has been detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and agreed to voluntarily leave the United States. The Brazilian national was arrested on October 2nd after allegedly firing a BB gun outside a Boston-area synagogue on the eve of Yom Kippur, one of Judaism’s holiest days. Gouvêa, who told authorities he was “hunting rats,” later pleaded guilty to the illegal use of an air rifle. While local synagogue leaders stated the act was not “fueled by antisemitism,” the timing and location triggered immediate alarm and a swift response from federal authorities, who revoked his visa just two weeks after the incident.

The Department of Homeland Security took a firm stance, with Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin stating, “There is no room in the United States for brazen, violent acts of antisemitism like this.” She emphasized that the privilege of being in the U.S. is forfeited by such “inexplicably reprehensible acts.” Gouvêa, whose full-time post is as an associate professor at the University of São Paulo Law School, was suspended by Harvard pending investigation. His agreement to depart voluntarily concludes a rapid fall from grace for a legal scholar noted for influential work in Brazil, underscoring the Trump administration’s heightened focus on visa enforcement and a growing national backlash against perceived threats on university campuses.

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