70-year-old legal resident detained at Boston airport after trip, advocates say (2025)

A Massachusetts woman with permanent legal status was wrongly detained by border agents at a Boston airport after returning home from an international vacation, advocates said.

The reason for her detention isn’t immediately clear, according to state advocacy groups that banded together in support of her release.

McClatchy News contacted U.S. Customs and Border Protection for comment and more information on April 30 and didn’t receive an immediate response.

Following a trip to Zimbabwe, the 70-year-old Worcester resident was apprehended by U.S. Customs and Border Patrol upon arriving at the Boston Logan International Airport the afternoon of April 29, according to an April 30 news release issued by the organizations, which include the Student Clinic for Immigrant Justice and Neighbor to Neighbor.

The woman, Ruth Mufute, is a member of the Student Clinic for Immigrant Justice, its executive director, Jonathan Goldman, told Worcester Telegram & Gazette. She’s a development manager, Goldman said.

Now, as of 2 p.m. ET April 30, a federal judge has released her after about 24 hours of detainment, a spokesman said in an emailed statement to McClatchy News on behalf of the organizations.

Her release comes after the groups gathered outside the Boston federal courthouse and held a news conference, advocating for her release, the afternoon of April 30.

Neighbor to Neighbor told McClatchy News via email that “there has been little information on the cause for detainment at this time.”

“Ruth is a lawful green card holder residing in Worcester, and her only crime seems to be working with a known immigration non-profit,” the organization said in an emailed statement on April 30.

According to the Student Clinic for Immigrant Justice, the woman is a grandmother and a longtime community advocate.

Dálida Rocha, Neighbor to Neighbor’s executive director, denounced authorities detaining the “lawful permanent resident,” calling the situation “unacceptable” in a statement included in the news release.

“At her age, this kind of treatment is not only cruel, it’s dangerous,” Rocha said. “We need clarity around this situation and a guarantee that she is being given fair and due processing.”

Worcester, where the woman is from, is about a 45-mile drive southwest from Boston.