In a startling interview, an immigration lawyer from Massachusetts said that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) had ordered her to leave the country right away.
Nicole Micheroni, an immigration lawyer in Boston, received an email on Friday that said, “It is time for you to leave the United States.” Do not try to stay in the United States; you will be discovered by the federal government. Kindly leave the United States right away.
Because DHS “paroled [her] into the United States for a limited period” and was now “exercising its discretion to terminate [her] parole,” Micheroni said she was taken aback when she received a letter from the agency requiring her to self-deport within seven days. However, Micheroni was raised in Sharon, Massachusetts, after being born at Newton Wellesley Hospital. She currently practices immigration law after attending Temple University School of Law in Pennsylvania and Wellesley College in Massachusetts.
According to Micheroni, she does get emails for her clients from DHS and ICE, many of whom are worried about being deported. Although she considers herself fortunate to have a U.S. passport and birth certificate proving her citizenship, she acknowledged that many people, including those who are legally entitled to stay in the country, worry about being deported.
“People on various visas, permanent residents, and U.S. citizens who are afraid to travel have called us,” Micheroni told Boston ABC affiliate WCVB. “Everyone is simply very concerned about how the immigration crackdown will impact them.”
She went on to say that she knows other immigration lawyers who had received the same email from DHS, saying, “There are a lot of people who are perfectly within their rights to stay here and are being told to leave and a lot of people don’t know the difference.”
Micheroni remarked, “I don’t need to leave.” In response to the email, the lawyer stated that she does not intend to get in touch with DHS.
According to WCVB, in response to concerns regarding Micheroni’s email, Customs and Border Patrol stated that it may have reached “unintended recipients” because it included the “known email addresses of the alien.”
In recent weeks, DHS has faced criticism for its careless use of electronic communications. The now-famous Signal group chat incident, in which senior Trump administration officials allegedly plotted military attacks in Yemen over a multi-day unsecured group chat that unintentionally included a journalist, is still the subject of a federal complaint.
The entire interview with Micheroni is available to view here.
