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☁️Clouds will slowly clear throughout the day. Highs in the 50s.

Today, GBH News reporter Sarah Betancourt gives us an inside look at the process behind her reporting of the story she broke last week about a New Hampshire green card holder who was detained at Logan Airport upon returning from Luxembourg.

Four Things to Know

MCAS ballot question results: Fall River is giving retroactive high school diplomas to former students who completed all their necessary coursework but failed the MCAS test. Back in November, Massachusetts voters decided to do away with the standardized test as a graduation requirement. Though the vast majority of Massachusetts 10th graders do pass the test, or manage to fulfill an alternative requirement, Fall River’s class of 2024 had 49 students — roughly 8% — who didn’t receive diplomas because they failed the MCAS . The schools will reach out — but also have encouraged former students to contact them if they believe they qualify. “They’re moving, and they’re changing their name, and they’re getting married, and they’ve gotten divorced and they’ve moved on,” Fall River Mayor Paul Coogan said. “We’re going to make our best effort. And that’s all we can do.”

Colleagues of Dr. Rasha Alawieh, an assistant professor at Brown University and a kidney transplant specialist, was deported from Logan Airport to her home country of Lebanon after returning to New England from a visit to her family. She has a valid H-1B visa, and a Boston judge ruled Sunday that she was deported “without justification.” Yesterday federal prosecutors said agents had searched her phone and found photos of former Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.

In a 5-4 vote, the Brookline School Committee decided to close its Office of Educational Equity in order to save $337,000 a year. The town is looking at an $8 million deficit in next year’s budget, and has already made cuts totaling $4.3 million. While school committee member Carolyn Thall said it was a practical decision, not influenced by national politics, a group of parents – the Brookline Asian American Family Network – expressed disappointment over losing an office that supported their students and the loss of two administrators of color.

Harvard at The Big Dance: The Harvard women’s basketball team is heading to North Carolina for the NCAA March Madness tournament. This is Harvard’s first appearance in the tournament since 2007, and its seventh attempt at the title in program history. “I’m tired of society trying to put these stereotypes on Harvard, Princeton and Columbia — all these Ivy League schools — that we can’t also be great hoopers,” senior guard Harmoni Turner told reporters Sunday. “Like, nerds can hoop too. I’ve been saying that all year.”

Behind the story: Green card holder from New Hampshire 'interrogated’ at Logan Airport and detained

From Sarah Betancourt , GBH News reporter: 

As I reported last week, Fabian Schmidt was technically the first green card holder detained by the Trump administration — at least from what we know publicly. Immigration authorities took him into custody shortly before Columbia University activist Mahmoud Khalil was detained by ICE. Both men have several things in common — green cards in good standing, partners who are US citizens, and a longtime presence in the United States.

For Khalil, the detention is related to free speech, specifically his active protesting at Columbia University over Palestinian rights and freedom, which the federal government has deemed sympathy for Hamas. For Schmidt, no clear information was given to his family but, as alluded to by the government, a dismissed pot possession charge from 10 years ago (and a missed court appearance in that case) and a DUI that has since been resolved may be factors in his detention after returning home from a family visit overseas.

GBH got a tip about his situation last week, and the story has since caught the attention of the public. The New Hampshire father, who has been sober for two years and maintains full time work as an engineer, continues to be held by immigration authorities at the Wyatt Detention Facility in Rhode Island.

The federal government did not initially respond to GBH’s requests for comment on Friday. However, a number of posts on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, in which assistant Secretary of Homeland Security Tricia McLaughlin decried the story, prompted us to reach out again on Saturday to U.S. Customs and Border Protection. CBP replied at 11:53 p.m.

“These claims are blatantly false with respect to CBP,” said Hilton Beckham, the agency’s assistant commissioner for public affairs. “When an individual is found with drug related charges and tries to reenter the country, officers will take proper action.” The agency did not immediately respond to further questions about the specific claims they dispute.

The increasing number of enforcement actions against people with long-standing legal status indicates a shift in how the Trump administration is pursuing its goal of deporting a massive number of people. Instead of adhering to its “worst-first” strategy, it is now targeting people who have openly protested its actions (like Khalil) and those who might have overcome difficult personal histories (like Schmidt). The detentions of Schmidt and Brown University’s Dr. Rasha Alawieh throw Logan International Airport into the spotlight. In both cases, Customs and Border Protection agents made the decision to pull aside people with legal standing in the US and to consider them “inadmissible.”

It also raises the question of where MassPort, the agency that owns Logan, ends its authority, and where the federal government’s authority begins. MassPort officials said they had no knowledge of Schmidt’s case, and referred all questions to the feds. The airport’s international terminal, Terminal E, was a focal point during the first Trump administration. In 2017, several travelers were detained there in response to Trump’s Muslim Ban, including lawful permanent residents. In 2020, an Iranian Northeastern University student was deported despite a court order. 

We invite members of the public to reach out directly, or on Signal or Protonmail , if you hear of people being detained at Terminal E. It’s tips like yours that help us provide much-needed context to changes in immigration policies, and how they’re impacting everyday people in Massachusetts.

Read more: 

- How do Mass. sheriffs interact with ICE? We asked them

- East Boston business owners keep ICE at arm’s length by knowing their rights

- Mass. immigrant detained in Texas will soon be free to return home