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Harvard University in Cambridge
(Cambridge, Mass) — A visiting Harvard Law School professor, Carols Portugal Gouvea, has agreed to voluntarily leave the United States. The move comes after he pleaded guilty to illegally firing a pellet rifle outside Temple Beth Zion in Brooklyn, Massachusetts on October 2nd- the day before Yom Kippur. Forty-three-year-old Gouvea told cops he was “hunting rats” at the time of the incident.
After the shooting, the U.S. State Department revoked the professor’s temporary J-1 visa and US immigration authorities formaly detained him via ICE. In addition, the US Department of Homeland Security called the act unacceptable, describing it as a “violent act” and added there’s no place in the US for such behavior.
DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said, “It is a privilege to work and study in the United States, not a right,” She added, “There is no room in the United States for brazen, violent acts of anti-Semitism like this. They are an affront to our core principals as a country and an unacceptable threat against law-abiding American citizens.”
As part of the plea deal, Gouvea received six months probation, while other charges of disorderly conduct, vandalism, disturbing the peace, were dropped. He elected to return to Brazil voluntarily.
