Two San Diegans who represent immigrants before the courts are part of a number of other American citizens in the country who recently declared that they have received emails from the government telling them that they should leave the country.
“It is time for you to leave the United States,” reads the first line of emails sent by the American Department of Internal Security to at least two legal experts who work for a non-profit organization in San Diego who helps immigrants. The two emails were sent a few minutes from each other on the night of April 10.
Massachusetts and Los Angeles immigration lawyers, as well as a Connecticut doctor, have also received emails for the conditional immigration release, although they are American citizens, according to reports across the country.
Customs and the protection of American borders, which are part of the DHS, have recognized that certain opinions “may have been sent to involuntary recipients”. However, opinions have raised confusion and concerns in the midst of the Trump administration’s continuing repression against immigration.
“I thought it was weird,” said San Diego’s lawyer Adam Peña, since he was born in El Paso, Texas. He said his family immigrated to the United States over a century ago. “I was a little amazed by that. Like: “Why could I get this?” »»
The CBP began to issue opinions ending parole to people who have no permanent lawful status to stay in the country, including, but without limiting themselves, asylum seekers who have entered the CBP One application process, a spokesperson said.
Those who followed the process, which was introduced under the Biden administration, has generally been released in the United States while their cases were pending. More than 900,000 people have obtained an appointment throughout this process since its implementation in January 2023.
“CBP used the e-mail addresses known from abroad to send notifications,” said agency spokesperson. “If a non -personal email – as an American citizen contact – was provided by abroad, opinions may have been sent to involuntary recipients. CBP monitors communications and will solve all the problems on a case -by -case basis. ”
Peña said he was not too concerned about the fact that he was in danger. “Because I know what I am-I am an American citizen,” he said.
But again, a doubt has slipped into his mind. Could it somehow be swept away in an immigration descent? Could he be detained?
“But I was just more frustrated by carelessness, negligence, contempt for this government for people,” said Peña.
Peña said he was planning to wear his birth certificate and his passport with him in the future, which his mother urged him as well as his older brother to do.
“Now, it’s probably the right time to start doing it, with more stories of American citizens who get away without regular procedure,” he said, citing the arrest and detention of an American citizen in Florida and the recent comments by President Donald Trump expressing the desire to deport American citizens to salvadoric prisons.
And he fears that, because he has received email, he can be on a sort of government list or database now, in particular because his work puts him in frequent contact with immigration and the application of customs and other federal agencies, and because he describes himself as a frank defender of immigrant rights.
‘I don’t want to be another mistake’
Aldo Martínez Gómez, a representative accredited to the immigration court, was born in National City. However, he received an email encouraging him to leave the country alone because his supposed parole had expired.
“Don’t try to stay in the United States-the federal government will find you immediately. Please leave the United States immediately,” said the email.
Even if he is an American citizen, Martínez Gómez admitted that he had concerns, given the current immigration climate. In Arizona and Florida, some cases of American citizens have been wrongly detained.
“I don’t want to be another mistake,” he said.
But the first thing he asked for when he read the opinion was: “How did they receive my email?”
He said that none of his customers had asked for his email address to fill out their documents. He also noted that even if he helped customers who entered the country through CBP One, he met them later, once they were already in the United States and after an email address was already provided in the context of the request.
He said it was worrying to see that the same thing had happened to others who shared his profession. Martínez Gómez considered it an act of intimidation.
E-mail seemed to be an automated message, and Martínez Gómez said he was confused and could not respond to request clarification.
As a border resident, Martínez Gómez usually carries his American passport card in case he needed to cross the border in Tijuana. Now he also takes his birth certificate with him.
Originally published:
California Daily Newspapers
