As Kristi Noem cosplays at the Department of Homeland Security, her offices sent an American attorney an email ordering her to self-deport "immediately."
"It is time for you to leave the United States," the threatening letter warned, stunning Nicole Micheroni, a Massachusetts-born U.S. citizen and immigration lawyer for 12 years. "Do not attempt to remain in the United States — the federal government will find you."
From The Boston Globe:
Micheroni, who was born in Massachusetts, was confused. The message, titled, "Notification of Termination of Parole," included no client name or case number.
"It took me a couple of minutes to realize it was sent to me, instead of someone I represent," Micheroni said.
The message was not intended for her, the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement. But it was also not a scam. Rather, it was a product of the Trump administration's efforts to deport hundreds of thousands of migrants allowed into the country under Biden-era initiatives that granted them temporary permission to live and work in the United States.
Authorities recently issued a wave of parole terminations by email, said Sarah Sherman-Stokes, associate director of the Immigrants' Rights and Human Trafficking Clinic at Boston University School of Law. …
Citizens could have received those emails by mistake if an immigrant listed their email as contact information, a senior DHS official said in a statement.
Fortunately, Micheroni was able to straighten things out with DHS — who admitted it was a mistake — before she was arrested and shipped out of the United States. The same can't be said for U.S. resident Kilmar Abrego García, who was erroneously deported to a prison in El Salvador, which the Trump Administration admitted, but then defied a Supreme Court order to help him return to the United States.
And after Trump's "home-grown" comments yesterday, telling El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele that Americans "are next," looks like Micheroni might have just caught a lucky break.
Previously: Kristi Noem finally gets real: "You can't trust the government anymore" (video)
