A Los Angeles immigration attorney said she received an email from the Department of Homeland Security telling her to leave the U.S. “immediately” even though she is a U.S. citizen.
Harriet Steele said she was stunned when she opened an email sent to her from the federal agency on April 10 that read, “It is time for you to leave the United States.”
“I was startled when I first read it,” she said.
Portions of the email also read, “DHS encourages you to leave immediately on your own. DHS is terminating your parole. Do not attempt to remain in the United States — the federal government will find you.”
The agency warned that the recipient could face criminal prosecution, civil fines and penalties.
Steele said she was confused about receiving the letter and worried that it was intended for a client instead.
“There’s no identifying information about who the intended recipient is,” she said. “I would imagine it would be terrifying for someone who, unlike me, doesn’t have the privilege of having attended law school, of being a U.S. citizen born in the United States to two U.S. citizen parents.”
It’s unclear how many people have mistakenly received the DHS notice.
In a statement provided to the Los Angeles Times, DHS said that U.S. Customs and Border Protection used each immigrant’s known email address for the 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,” the statement read. “CBP is monitoring communications and will address any issues on a case-by-case basis.”
Steele believes the emails fall in line with the current White House administration’s focus on mass deportation plans.
“I think this is in line with a lot of the policies that we’ve seen over the past three months, which are both chaotic and intimidating and meant to intimidate people into self-deporting,” Steele said.
Steele represents unaccompanied minors in her daily work and said the DHS email has stoked fear and concern with some of her clients, but she remains focused on her work in immigration law.
“I’m aghast to think that anyone would get an email like this, U.S. citizen or not,” Steele said. “I’m not going to be intimidated by this. I’m going to continue doing my work for the organization where I work [as] public counsel and continue working with the clients in the communities that we serve.”
According to the L.A. Times, Steele is not the only U.S. citizen to receive the DHS email — an immigration attorney in Massachusetts and a physician in Connecticut also received the DHS letter.
KTLA has reached out to the Department of Homeland Security for comment and is awaiting a response.
