An immigration lawyer received an email informing her she is being deported from the US despite being born in Massachusetts.
American citizen Nicole Micheroni was stunned when she opened the letter from the Department of Homeland Security on Friday morning.
The Newton-born attorney initially assumed the email titled, ‘Notification of Termination of Parole’ was for one of her clients.
‘DHS is terminating your parole,’ the email obtained by the Boston Globe read. ‘Do not attempt to remain in the United States — the federal government will find you.’
‘It took me a couple of minutes to realize it was sent to me, instead of someone I represent,’ Micheroni said.
The DHS has since confirmed the email was sent in error.
‘I never took DHS’s scary-sounding notice that I had 7 days to leave the country too seriously, because it was obviously some kind of mistake,’ Micheroni added. ‘But what about the people the emails were actually aimed at?’
The email was one of many sent as part of the Trump administration’s mass deportation plans, according to Sarah Sherman-Stokes, associate director of the Immigrants’ Rights and Human Trafficking Clinic at Boston University School of Law.
Immigration lawyer Nicole Micheroni received an email informing her she is being deported by the states despite being born in Massachusetts
Micheroni was stunned when she opened the letter from the Department of Homeland Security on Friday morning
She said the letters were predominantly sent to asylum seekers who were using the Biden-era CPB one app which allowed them to schedule hearings and appointments.
President Trump immediately axed the program upon taking office, leaving thousands of people scrambling for legal ways to pursue their asylum claims.
The DHS has since said that more emails may have been incorrectly sent to US citizens if their details were used on CPB one applications.
‘[Customs and Border Protection] is monitoring communications and will address any issues on a case-by-case basis,’ the statement said.
But Micheroni said she is still perplexed over how she ended up receiving the email.
‘The system doesn’t let you include an attorney’s contact info, so we still have no idea how I ended up on the list,’ she added.
‘CBP One was converted to “CBP Home,” an app that “helps” immigrants “self-deport”.
‘Revocation of parole isn’t the same as a deportation order and this email does not initiate deportation proceedings.
The email was one of many sent as part of the Trump administration’s mass deportation plans
Micheroni says the now defunct CPB One app, which asylum seekers used to schedule immigration hearings, did not have a section for attorneys’ contact details leaving her confused over how she was sent the message
‘Anyone who has received this may still have options and should talk to an immigration lawyer now.’
As part of the migration crackdown, the Trump administration had sought to deport hundreds of thousands of people from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela by ending legal humanitarian protections granted under Biden.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said more than 500,000 people from the four countries would be given until April 24 to leave.
However, the initiative suffered a setback last week after a judge blocked the order.
During a hearing, US District Judge Indira Talwani repeatedly questioned the government’s assertion that it could end humanitarian parole for the four nationalities.
She argued that immigrants in the program who are here legally now face an option of ‘fleeing the country’ or staying and ‘risk losing everything.’
‘The nub of the problem here is that the secretary, in cutting short the parole period afforded to these individuals, has to have a reasoned decision,’ Talwani said, adding that the explanation for ending the program was ‘based on an incorrect reading of the law.’
‘There was a deal and now that deal has been undercut,’ she said later in the hearing.
DHS previously stated that the recent deportation push does not extend to Ukrainian and Afghan war refugees who have been granted a temporary special status.
This is a developing story, please check back for updates…
