Harvard prof who fired pellet gun near synagogue on Yom Kippur to leave US before being deported

Carlos Portugal Gouvea, a visiting law professor whom Harvard University suspended in October after he was arrested for firing a pellet gun near Temple Beth Zion, an “independent, inclusive” congregation in Brookline, Mass., on Yom Kippur, has agreed to leave the country, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said.

“It is a privilege to work and study in the United States, not a right,” stated Tricia McLaughlin, assistant U.S. secretary of homeland security for public affairs. “There is no room in the United States for brazen, violent acts of antisemitism like this.”

“They are an affront to our core principles as a country and an unacceptable threat against law-abiding American citizens,” McLaughlin said. “We are under zero obligation to admit foreigners who commit these inexplicably reprehensible acts or to let them stay here.”

Kristi Noem, the U.S. homeland security secretary, has “made it clear that anyone who thinks they can come to America and commit anti-American and antisemitic violence and terrorism should think again,” she added. “You are not welcome here.”

According to the department, Gouvea agreed to leave the country “rather than be deported” after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement re-arrested him on Wednesday. That came after accepting a plea deal on Nov. 13 “on the charge of illegal use of the air rifle while his other charges for disturbing the peace, disorderly conduct and vandalizing property were dismissed,” the department said.

On Oct. 1 at night, the Brazilian citizen was arrested for firing the gun outside the synagogue after Yom Kippur had started. (The Homeland Security Department said that he was arrested on Oct. 2, “the day before Yom Kippur.” JNS sought comment.)

The professor told police officers that he was hunting rats and was unaware that he was near a synagogue.

© JNS