A Brazilian Harvard Law School professor claims he was only ‘hunting rats’, but agreed to leave the U.S. anyway.

Carlos Portugal Gouvea, 43, was arrested by ICE on Wednesday after reportedly firing an air rifle outside Brookline’s Temple Beth Zion, a Boston-area synagogue.

The visiting law professor agreed to return to Brazil rather than face deportation after pleading guilty to illegal use of the air rifle on Oct. 2nd, which is Judaism’s holy holiday, Yom Kippur.

🚨 Meet Carlos Portugal Gouvea
– Visiting professor at Harvard Law School
– Director of a Brazilian social justice think tank
– Currently charged with discharging a pellet gun outside a synagogue on the eve of Yom Kippur

He told police he was “hunting rats.”
He shattered a car… pic.twitter.com/USY7236dMA

— Jews Fight Back 🇺🇸🇮🇱 (@JewsFightBack) October 4, 2025

Gouvea was approached by the synagogue’s security after firing two shots, which led to a “brief physical struggle,” the New York Post reported. When confronted by local police, he claimed to have been ‘hunting rats.”

Harvard Law did not disclose any disciplinary action other than putting Gouvea on administrative leave. Charges of disorderly conduct, vandalising property, and disturbing the peace were all dropped as part of his plea deal.

A car window was reportedly shattered by one of Gouvea’s shots.

Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin isn’t buying Gouvea’s excuse.

“It is a privilege to work and study in the United States, not a right,” McLaughlin said in a statement. “There is no room in the United States for brazen, violent acts of anti-Semitism like this. They are an affront to our core principles as a country and an unacceptable threat against law-abiding American citizens.”

The incident took place days after President Trump claimed Harvard had reached a tentative deal with his administration to restore $2.4 billion in frozen federal grants, over issues including the discrimination against Jewish students.

Plenty of X users celebrated the news of Gouvea’s self-imposed deportation:

Do the universities deliberately look for the worst employees?

— Derick Carver (@Amazon1USA) December 5, 2025

Both excellent questions.

Uh-huh, hunting rats–right before Yom Kippur. The only rat involved is a two-legged one–him. Throw him out. Arrest, detain, expel and blacklist criminal aliens enough times, and eventually, aliens will get the idea that they can’t threaten violence here and get away with it.

— Stanley Scism (@skscism) December 5, 2025

Hopefully somebody is going to make sure his ticket out of Logan isn’t a round trip one

— TexasAnna (@NOTABLOODFKR) December 5, 2025

Comment

We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please click the ∨ icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.