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Boston immigration attorney Nichole Micheroni (screengrab via WCVB).
In a stunning interview, a Massachusetts-born immigration attorney said she received a demand from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that she leave the country immediately.
“It is time for you to leave the United States,” read the email Boston immigration attorney Nicole Micheroni received Friday. “Do not attempt to remain in the United States — the federal government will find you. Please depart the United States immediately.”
Micheroni said she was surprised upon receiving a letter from DHS saying that she must self-deport within seven days because DHS “paroled [her] into the United States for a limited period” and was now “exercising its discretion to terminate [her] parole.” Micheroni, however, was born at Newton Wellesley Hospital, and grew up in Sharon, Massachusetts. She attended Wellesley College in Massachusetts and Temple University School of Law in Pennsylvania, and now practices immigration law.
Micheroni said that she does receive emails from ICE and DHS for her clients, many of whom are facing concerns over deportation. She said that while she feels lucky to have a U.S. passport and birth certificate showing that she is a citizen, she knows that many others — including those who have a legal right to remain in the country — are concerned about deportation.
“We’ve gotten calls from U.S. citizens afraid to travel, permanent residents, people on other types of visas,” Micheroni told Boston ABC affiliate WCVB. “Everybody is just really worried the immigration crackdown is going to affect them.”
“There are a lot of people that are perfectly within their rights to stay here and are being told to leave and a lot of people don’t know the difference,” she added, noting that she also knows other immigration attorneys who received the same email from DHS.
“I’m not someone that needs to leave,” Micheroni said. The attorney said she has no plans to contact DHS in response to the email.
WCVB reported that Customs and Border Patrol responded to concerns over Micheroni’s email with a statement that it used the “known email addresses of the alien,” and therefore, the email may have reached “unintended recipients.”
DHS has come under attack in recent weeks over sloppiness with its electronic communications. A federal lawsuit is currently pending over the now-infamous Signal group chat scandal in which top Trump administration officials are said to have discussed military strikes in Yemen over a multiday unsecured group chat that inadvertently included a journalist.
You can watch the full interview with Micheroni here.
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