“U.S. immigration authorities arrested a visiting professor at Harvard Law School this week after he pleaded guilty to discharging a pellet gun outside a Massachusetts synagogue the day before Yom Kippur,” the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said on Thursday (December 4, 2025).
Carlos Portugal Gouvea, a Brazilian citizen, was arrested on Wednesday (December 3, 2025) by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement after his temporary non-immigrant visa was revoked by the U.S. State Department following what President Donald Trump’s administration labelled an “anti-Semitic shooting incident” — a description at odds with how local authorities have described the case.
“Gouvea, an associate professor at the University of Sao Paulo Law School who had taught at Harvard during the fall semester, has agreed to leave the country,” the Homeland Security Department said. He could not be immediately reached for comment, and Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Harvard declined to comment.
Gouvea’s arrest came as the Trump administration pressed Harvard to reach a deal to resolve a litany of allegations it has made against the Ivy League institution, including that Harvard had not done enough to combat anti-semitism and protect Jewish students on campus.
