NY immigrants are seeing a grim email in their inboxes: ‘It is time for you to leave’
Hundreds of thousands of immigrants in New York City and beyond are receiving emails from the Trump administration stating their authorization to remain in the United States has been revoked and they must leave the country immediately, according to local immigration attorneys and copies of the emails shared with Gothamist.
“It is time for you to leave the United States,” the mass email from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security advises, including this warning: “Do not attempt to remain in the United States — the federal government will find you.”
The communications assert that the recipients’ immigration “parole” – temporary permission for immigrants to live in the United States due to some “urgent humanitarian reasons” or “significant public benefit” – has been terminated. Since taking office Jan. 20, President Donald Trump has terminated such parole for hundreds of thousands of immigrants.
But now the mass email notifications of the changes — addressed to no named recipient — have sowed chaos and confusion among those on the receiving end, who have included some U.S. citizens, according to Hasan Shafiqullah, an immigration attorney at the Legal Aid Society and a U.S. citizen who recently received the email.
Shafiqullah and Raluca Oncioiu, managing attorney of Catholic Migration Services’ immigration program, say attorneys from their groups have received frantic calls and requests from clients wondering what to do.
Some parolees may, in fact, have to leave the United States, and will have their work permits invalidated as a result of the Trump administration’s ending their parole, Shafiqullah and Oncioiu said. But other parolees may still be able to stay in the United States as they pursue other immigration relief. Circumstances may vary among parolees, the lawyers stress, making a mass email inappropriate.
Steve Bansbach, a CBP spokesperson, said the agency has sent notices terminating parole “for individuals who do not have lawful status to remain.” But he also acknowledged some emails could have been misdirected. He said the notices were sent to “the known email addresses of the alien,” and notices may have been sent to unintended recipients if another person’s email was provided to the agency instead.
“CBP is monitoring communications and will address any issues on a case-by-case basis,” Bansbach said.
