ICE Arrests Harvard Visiting Professor Carlos Portugal Gouvea for Firing Pellet Gun Near Synagogue

U.S. immigration authorities arrested visiting Harvard Law School professor Carlos Portugal Gouvêa after the State Department revoked his temporary visa.

“The gates of Harvard Yard at Harvard University, Tuesday, Sept”

Associated Press

Officials say he agreed to leave the United States voluntarily and returned to Brazil.

Associated Press

Multiple outlets report that Immigration and Customs Enforcement took him into custody in early December and that his attorney confirmed he arrived in Brazil on Thursday.

Accounts say the incident began with Gouvêa firing a pellet or BB gun near Temple Beth Zion on the eve of Yom Kippur, and he told police he was 'hunting rats' or 'shooting at rats'.

Reports vary on court and criminal-case details but converge that a plea deal resolved multiple charges.

Outlets report local prosecutors dropped several counts under the plea agreement and that Gouvêa admitted to illegally discharging a pellet/BB gun.

Boston

He received six months of pretrial probation and paid modest restitution after a pellet broke a car window.

Multiple local and regional papers listed the original police charges as illegal discharge, disorderly conduct, vandalism and disturbing the peace, and noted some counts were dismissed as part of the resolution.

There is a clear dispute across sources about motive and characterization.

“A Brazilian Harvard professor who claimed he was “hunting rats” when he fired a pellet gun near a Boston-area synagogue agreed to leave the country after visit with ICE”

breitbart

The Department of Homeland Security and some federal spokespeople characterized the episode as an "anti‑Semitic shooting incident."

Brookline police, synagogue leaders and local reporting said there was no clear evidence of an antisemitic motive.

They reported Gouvêa told officers he was unaware he lived next to a synagogue or that it was a religious holiday.

That divergence is reported consistently as a factual disagreement rather than a resolved fact.

Federal officials and some media outlets issued strongly worded condemnations, with DHS and its spokespeople framing the case as unacceptable conduct by a foreign national and some sources quoting officials using forceful language.

Other outlets amplified DHS's language and added framing about immigration policy and the Trump administration's stance that foreigners who commit such acts need not remain in the U.S.

CTV News

Several outlets placed the episode in a broader context of tensions between the Trump administration and Harvard over allegations of antisemitism and policy disputes.

“A visiting professor at Harvard Law School was arrested by U”

Devdiscourse

Other outlets kept coverage narrowly focused on the incident, the plea, and the immigration consequences.

Devdiscourse

Local reporting included statements from synagogue leaders and police disputing a hate motive.

Some national outlets tied the arrest to the administration's wider public rhetoric and funding actions toward Harvard.