The United States immigration authorities issued a forceful warning in an unprecedented mass email to people living in the country with a temporary protected status: “It is time for the United States to leave.”
Entitled “Notice of termination of probation,” said email: “If it does not leave the United States immediately It will be subject to possible actions to apply the law that will result in its elimination from the United States, unless you have obtained a legal basis to remain here. “Also establishes that” any benefit he receives in the United States connected with his probation, such as the authorization of work, will also end. “
“Do not try to remain in the United States: the federal government will find it,” concludes the email, a copy of which was reviewed by NBC News.
The email of the National Security Department was intended for the 14 million people living in the United States who fled from disturbances in countries such as Venezuela, Haiti, Cuba and Nicaragua.
But in the days after the distribution of email, shocking reports arose that US citizens in Massachusetts, Arizona and Connecticut received the notices.
Nicole Micheroni, Boston and citizen immigration lawyer born in the United States, said she received the notice last week.
“At first I thought it was for a client, and then I laughed a little, and then I was a little worried,” he said. “It was a variety of emotions that happened quite fast.”
A senior DHS official said in a statement that customs and border protection were “monitoring communications and will address any case -by -case problem.”
“If the foreigner did not provide a non -personal email, as an American citizen contact, the notices may have been sent to unwanted recipients,” said the official.
Micheroni and other immigration experts agree that American citizens who receive email should not legitimately worry about facing deportation.
“This email was specifically addressed to the people who entered the United States on probation, and probation means that the United States agreed to let the United States enter and that it does not have a visa or a reason to be here,” Micheroni said. “Then, if you are an American citizen, you should not enter the United States on probation.”
Even so, experts warn that US citizens must take action to protect themselves in the improbable case that they are addressed by the immigration authorities that challenge their citizenship.
Kristen Harris, an immigration lawyer in Chicago, reported that US citizens who receive the notice should seek a lawyer for an immigration lawyer.
“Certainly there is no legal effect under the statute or current regulation for a citizen to be” finished by probation “since especially an American citizen never, he would never have been put on probation in his life,” he said. “On the other hand, given how … fluid the interpretation of the current administration is of the existing law, I think that verify with the Private Immigration Council would be really advisable.”
In recent weeks, Trump administration and immigration authorities have intensified efforts to deport non -citizens.
Last month, the Administration challenged the order of a judge and sent hundreds of men to a high security prison in El Salvador, claiming that they were members of a Venezuelan gang known as a Aragua train. Some relatives of the men sent to the Megaprison have strongly played statements that their family members are part of the gang.
Kilmar Abrego García, an immigrant from El Salvador who lives in Maryland under a protection order issued by the court, was among those sent to prison in what federal officials called an “administrative error.” The administration has repeatedly challenged or ignored a court order to return Abrego García to the United States
Trump has also presented the idea of deporting US citizens convicted of certain crimes in recent weeks.
Harris and Micheroni recommend that US citizens who receive the notice collect their documentation, including birth certificates and American passports, to demonstrate that they are US citizens in case the immigration authorities are contacted.
“I am not trying to make people be scared, but I think that if you are accidentally in a list, it is not crazy, but just make sure you have any documentation prepared somewhere,” Micheroni said.
The lawyers also expressed concern that American citizens could involuntarily grouped with non -citizens in other scenarios.
The New York Times recently reported that the Trump administration is moving to cancel the social security number of deported immigrants by adding them to a list of deceased people, effectively on the black list of earning or spending money.
Micheroni said he logged in to his online social security account in recent days and confirmed that he is still active.
“With luck, this particular email is not connected to the Social Security administration that cancels social security numbers, just because it seems that this email came to many different people,” he said. “But it is a concern, and I think that broader problems, errors like this or putting people accidentally on the wrong list has very serious consequences.”
Not all experts recommended taking action.
Jonathan A. Grode, an immigration lawyer in Philadelphia, said US citizens should largely ignore the notices if they receive them. Grode also received email in recent days and did not pay attention.
“I know that I am an American citizen, not on probation. I’m not doing anything about it,” he said. “I had a good giggle and I eliminated it.”
He suggested that the government probably knew that it accidentally had American citizens in the list of email recipients, but did not take measures to address the problem.
“This is a deck government, no scales, right? I think personally that the United States is a very mature and effective country, and movements must be taken carefully, pragmatically and carefully,” he said. “This government does not share that opinion.”
“They want to be agents of change, and their way of doing so is very large, very bold and very aggressive,” he added.
