Washington – One night this month, the Los Angeles immigration lawyer Harriet Steele opened his email to an opinion from the Ministry of Internal Security.
“It’s time for you to leave the United States,” he said.
Steele was confused – and concerned. She is an American citizen born in Los Angeles, but feared that email will be intended for a customer.
E-mail, which she received at 9:41 p.m. Pacific time on April 10, was an opinion of dismissal of parole, a humanitarian form of legal entrance which was considerably extended under the Biden administration.
As part of President Trump’s mass expulsion program, his administration has targeted the people who have entered the country legally, in addition to those who have entered illegally.
This month, the Trump administration revoked the legal status and the work authorization of migrants who have entered the United States using the application of nomination to the borders of the Biden era. More than 900,000 people have been released in the country in the context of this program, although with asylum and other legal paths, it is not known how many parole beneficiaries are affected by the action of the Trump administration.
The administration has also revoked another form of parole, for more than 500,000 people from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela who took off in the United States at their expense. But a federal judge interrupted these dismissals last week.
As for the e-mails telling people to leave the country, the Ministry of Internal Security said in a statement sent by e-mail that customs and the protection of American borders used the known e-mail address of each immigrant to send such notifications.
“If a non -personal email – as an American citizen contact – was provided by abroad, opinions may have been sent to involuntary recipients,” the statement said. “CBP monitors communications and will solve all the problems on a case -by -case basis.”
But Steele said she had no customers who entered the United States as part of the parole process. It represents children not accompanied through the law firm of pro Bono lawyers.
“The Trump administration works, in many ways, on a mixture of cruelty and incompetence,” she said. “It is difficult to know what the exact process was by which I received this email in the middle of the night, the time of the east coast.”
Steele said that the opinion was indicative of “this fear that Trump administration is trying to create” – both for immigrants and even for lawyers. Quoting “creeping fraud and without merit complaints”, the administration published last month a strict service note and supervision of immigration lawyers.
The opinion that Steele has received indicates that DHS uses its discretion to terminate parole, at most seven days from the date of the opinion. He warns against potential criminal proceedings, civil fines and sanctions.
“Do not try to stay in the United States – the federal government will find you,” concludes the opinion.
This message comes back to some people living in the country without authorization. Immigrant rights activists and lawyers say they hear people who choose to retire.
Steele is not the only American citizen to receive such an opinion. Another immigration lawyer from Massachusetts received the same e-mail, as is a Connecticut doctor.
American lawyers for immigration. has issued a practice alert this month warning dismissal notices. Lawyers began receiving opinions around April 8, the association said, and in some cases, opinions were given to lawyers who had nothing to do with the person’s conditional release process.
“At this point, we do not know how many people have received similar opinions and what are the next correct steps,” said the alert.
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