‘Leave immediately on your own’: So the DHS is telling US citizens to leave the country now

Nicole Micheroni, a U.S. citizen and immigration lawyer from Massachusetts, got a shocking email on Friday from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The email told her to leave the country within a week. The email, sent by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), said her parole status had been canceled and warned that she could face legal consequences if she didn’t leave right away.

According to NBC, Micheroni, a 40-year-old lawyer born and raised in Massachusetts, first thought the email was meant for one of her clients. But after checking carefully, she realized it was actually addressed to her. The email’s tone came across as threatening, which made her very concerned.

Since the message was sent to a U.S. citizen by mistake, it quickly drew attention, and Micheroni shared what happened on social media. After this incident, a high-ranking DHS official released a statement explaining that CBP has been sending out notices to people they believe don’t have legal permission to stay in the U.S., which does not make this okay at all.

DHS admits it sent email to US citizen and immigration lawyer

The statement admitted that because the agency uses email addresses provided by immigrants, sometimes these notices might go to the wrong person—including, in this case, a U.S. citizen. The DHS said, “CBP is monitoring communications and will address any issues on a case-by-case basis.” This is a pretty big issue to brush off this way, so hopefully the system will be fixed.

According to Micheroni, “I think it’s a scare tactic. I think they want people afraid of immigration.” and it’s hard not to agree. The wording was pretty serious to have sent to someone legally in the country, the email stated, “subject to potential law enforcement actions that will result in your removal from the United States. DHS encourages you leave immediately on your own.”

This happened while the Trump administration was working to end parole for migrants who came to the U.S. using the CBP One app starting in January 2023. The app was created to let migrants book appointments at official border crossings, giving them a legal option instead of entering illegally, according to NPR. The decision to cancel parole for these migrants led to legal challenges, and a federal judge recently blocked the deportation of over 500,000 migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela who had temporary legal status.

Micheroni’s case shows how serious the mistakes in DHS’s systems can be. While the DHS says the error happened because of email addresses given by immigrants, this raises bigger questions about whether the department’s methods for checking citizenship and immigration status are accurate and reliable. This kind of mistake is frightening and confusing for those who receive it. Even if the threatening language in the email wasn’t meant for her, it could still have a real emotional impact.

The effects of this case could be widespread, and some may fear to say anything. If similar mistakes happen to other U.S. citizens, it could weaken trust in the DHS and its ability to handle immigration matters correctly. It also makes people wonder whether errors like this could be used to scare or pressure individuals, no matter their citizenship status.

This incident makes it clear that DHS needs to carefully review its procedures to stop this from happening again and to make sure it correctly identifies and verifies people’s legal statuses.