Immigration Law
‘It’s Time for You to Leave’: More immigration lawyers get notices to self-deport
Immigration lawyers outside Massachusetts are also receiving notices to self-deport, despite their U.S. citizenship. (Photo from Shutterstock)
Immigration lawyers outside Massachusetts are also receiving notices to self-deport, despite their U.S. citizenship.
Among the lawyers receiving notices are Austin, Texas, lawyer Hubert Montoya and Salt Lake City lawyer Carlos Trujillo, according to Fortune, KTVX and the Utah News Dispatch.
“It’s time for you to leave,” the notices said.
Immigration lawyers in Ohio, Arizona, Michigan and Pennsylvania have also reported receiving the notices, according to the Utah News Dispatch.
Montoya told Fortune that he laughed when he received the notice.
“I just thought it was absurd,” he said.
Trujillo told the Utah News Dispatch that he has advocated for the immigrant community, but he refuses to think that it is the reason for the notice.
“It probably was a mistake, and I love this country so much that I think my first inclination is just to believe that and leave it at that,” he said.
The notices are part of a what appears to be a mass email campaign telling immigrants that the immigration parole allowing them to temporarily live in the United States has been revoked, according to the Utah News Dispatch.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is canceling paroles that allowed people who entered the United States using an online appointment app to remain in the country for two years, according to previous reporting by the Associated Press. The Trump administration has suspended use of the app.
The Department of Homeland Security sent notices to email addresses provided by the immigrants, including, in some cases, email addresses of U.S. citizens they listed as contacts, according to a statement by U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Some of the notices may have been sent to lawyers and other unintended recipients, the agency told Fortune.
The notices being sent are not limited to people who used the appointment app, according to a Customs and Border Protection statement cited by the Utah News Dispatch.
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