A Massachusetts immigration attorney, a U.S. citizen, received a shocking email from the federal government: an immigration notice which said she had to leave the country immediately. “I think it’s really scary this is going on, I think it says they’re not being careful,” Nicole Micheroni said.
Days after being told in an email to self-deport, an immigration attorney who was born and raised in Massachusetts has not heard directly from the federal government.
NBC10 Boston spoke with Nicole Micheroni, who is a U.S. citizen, this weekend. She received an email Friday from the Department of Homeland Security telling her, "It is time for you to leave the United States."
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"At first I thought it was for a client, but I looked really closely and the only name on the email was mine," she said. "So it said my parole status had been terminated and I should leave the country within seven days."
Micheroni was born in Newton and raised in Sharon. She said this weekend that the email was "probably, hopefully, sent to me in error," but added that "it's a little concerning these are going out to U.S. citizens."
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Micheroni noted that her name and email are on a lot of paperwork, as she works with clients who face possible deportation issues.
But four days after being told she had seven days to leave, Micheroni has not been able to reach the department, she told MSNBC in an interview Tuesday.
"I personally have not heard from anybody at DHS or reached anybody there. The email did come from a no-reply email address," she said. "They have made some general statements about the email since all of this went public."
In a statement this weekend, a senior Department of Homeland Security official told NBC10 Boston that Customs and Border Protection is issuing notices terminating parole for individuals who do not have lawful status to remain, and "CBP used the known email addresses of the alien to send notifications. If a non-personal email-such as an American citizen contact-was provided by the alien, notices may have been sent to unintended recipients. CBP is monitoring communications and will address any issues on a case-by-case basis."
"It tells me that the process is a mess right now. DHS isn't being careful. I think their main goal is to scare people into leaving the United States. They want immigrants to be uncomfortable here," Micheroni said Tuesday. "I think the takeaway is not only that it was sent to me, but it was sent to a lot of people who received this email. There were some other U.S. citizens who received this email."
One of those U.S. citizens, Carmen Bello, is also a Massachusetts immigration attorney.
"Pretty much going by whatever email we have in the parole application, we're getting sent a letter. And they're not even checking if it's the attorney's email or the applicant's email," Bello told NBC10 Boston Monday. "I think there's a lack of responsibility on the department on sending the letters like this."
Like Micheroni, Bello does not have a parole status to be terminated. She's been a citizen of this country for nearly 20 years.
"It's important to remember that entering the United States on parole is legal immigration. So there's a lot of people that enter the United States legally, and have a reason to stay here, that received this email out of the blue," Micheroni told MSNBC.
Micheroni said she has gotten a lot of panicked phone calls from immigrants who have received this email or have other concerns about the Trump administration's crackdown on immigration. She shared a piece of advice for anyone who is worried.
"Talk to somebody that is familiar with immigration law and see how it actually impacts them and whether they have to leave or whether they can remain here lawfully or there's something else they can do," she said.
