The Government Is Mass-Emailing People Telling Them To ‘Leave the United States’ Within 7 Days. It’s A Mess, And It Might Be DOGE’s Fault.

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Over the weekend, I got a WhatsApp message from Mr. A.

Mr. A and I have been in touch since he was trying to get out of Afghanistan after American troops withdrew in 2021. After finally escaping with his young family and making it to Mexico, he eventually got an appointment using the CBP One app to present himself requesting asylum at a U.S. port of entry. He quickly won his asylum case and currently works in I.T. while he waits to become eligible for a green card.

Except that he was concerned, this weekend, that it was all about to come crashing down. He’d gotten a letter from the U.S. government that began, “It is time for you to leave the United States.”

Countless letters like this have been sent to people over the last few weeks, announcing that the government is terminating their humanitarian parole – stripping them of a form of legal permission to live and work in the U.S. The letters have been sent to some U.S. citizens – mostly immigration attorneys – to whom it clearly doesn’t apply, but also to people like Mr. A, who aren’t affected by the parole termination because they don’t have parole. Many people in Mr. A’s situation may not realize they don’t need to comply with a sentence like “It is time for you to leave.” Even the people who are directly affected by losing their parole are in danger of hurting their own cases if they do what the Trump administration’s letter demands.

Why are these letters being sent out so broadly and haphazardly? The answer might have something to do with the “Department of Government Efficiency” (which is not an official federal body), led by Elon Musk. DOGE has embedded itself throughout the federal government to access systems and direct sweeping policy changes. The sending of the “time to leave” letters is a mess on a scale rarely seen in immigration policy – and one that has enormous consequences for the people who receive it.

“Leave The United States” – And Hurt Your Immigration Case

It appears that the “leave the United States” letters are generally intended for people who presented themselves at ports of entry with appointments that they’d made with the CBP One app and were then given humanitarian parole to enter the United States and pursue a case in immigration court. But DHS sent identical letters weeks ago to Ukrainians paroled into the United States under the Uniting for Ukraine program – only for the government to acknowledge those letters were all sent by mistake.

The letters say that the recipient’s parole is about to be terminated, and that they have seven days to leave the country – unless, according to a phrase buried in the middle of the letter, they have “obtained a lawful basis to remain” here. The letter ends with the line “Please leave the United States immediately.”

Unlike the Ukrainians, it’s clear that the government does intend to revoke the parole of CBP One parolees – a population that could number in the hundreds of thousands, given the number of appointments made under the Biden administration. (Indeed, some would-be parolees who are still stuck in Mexico, because they registered on the app but didn’t get appointments before Donald Trump took office and suspended all asylum processing at ports of entry, received emails telling them to leave the United States – a country they never even made it to.) But some people who came to the U.S. on CBP One haven’t gotten letters.

Some people who arrived on parole with CBP One have already received another immigration status, while others have lost their immigration cases and been ordered deported – so there’s no way to know exactly how many people are being stripped of legal permission to be here. Those people are in the midst of losing both their work permits and the parole that grants them protection from deportation.

However, that doesn’t necessarily mean they need to leave under U.S. law. It’s always important for people to consult a competent and reputable immigration attorney – something the DHS letter doesn’t even mention is an option – before making decisions that could affect their cases, such as leaving the country. Many parolees have pending applications for more permanent forms of legal status. Furthermore, most people who got appointments at ports of entry using CBP One were placed in deportation proceedings in immigration court.

If those cases are still ongoing, it’s not just unnecessary for them to leave – it could be actively bad for their cases. If they leave the U.S. without notifying the court, they could be ordered deported in absentia at their next hearing – barring them from entering the U.S. legally in future, for example. The DHS letter says that people can use CBP Home to inform the government that they are “self-deporting,” but there’s no indication that this information would be shared with immigration courts, which are under a different government department and use separate systems to keep track of cases.

“Leave The United States” – Because DOGE Said So?

Meanwhile, in cases all around the country, the letters have gone to U.S. citizens – mostly immigration attorneys who were apparently sent letters intended for their clients. In some cases, attorneys have said that they never gave their email addresses to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the agency that sent the letters. Another immigration agency, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, may have given CBP their contact information.

While the letters sent to U.S. citizens have gotten widespread attention – and made it very clear that DHS isn’t being careful, to say the least, with who they’re telling to leave – there are also countless people in the same position as Mr. A: immigrants who came to the United States on CBP One appointments, who have since received full legal status. In Florida, some green card holders – Cubans eligible for an expedited path to citizenship under the Cuban Adjustment Act – got the letters.

The parole grant that let them into the United States isn’t what allows them to remain here now and revoking it doesn’t do anything. Indeed, the letter admits it doesn’t apply to them – they have “another lawful basis” for being here. But it takes a careful read to notice that – and it’s not exactly a common phrase, even for people who navigated the immigration system on their own. (There’s no explicit mention of asylum or other kinds of status that might count as “lawful basis.”)

Mr. A didn’t notice that phrase when he read the letter. He knew he had asylum, not just parole, but was still concerned and confused – after all, his family had just received emails from an official email address telling them in no uncertain terms to leave.

The Department of Homeland Security has acknowledged to reporters that in some cases, letters may have been sent by mistake. But one CBP spokesperson told a reporter that the letters were sent to people “who do not have lawful basis to remain” — contradicting the text of the letter itself, and potentially confusing recipients even further.

The mistakes both acknowledged and unacknowledged, email addresses shared with one agency being used by another – it’s part of a familiar pattern in the early months of the Trump administration, which often breaks things first and asks questions later. Indeed, a Politico article published last week offered a significant clue as to why the “leave the United States” letters have been such a mess.

The article reveals that some of the staffers associated with DOGE, which has focused so far on eliminating “government waste” and granting itself access to government databases, are now pivoting to implementing Trump’s immigration agenda. And their first project, per the article, is the large-scale revocation of parole.

If DOGE is behind these letters, it certainly explains some things. But it doesn’t justify them.

When the Trump administration ends a government program and then starts it back up again, it’s clearly trying to reverse its actions. But when it sends letters to people who have asylum or green cards telling them it is “time to leave,” it’s not just doing so in error – it’s spreading fear in communities that are already terrified of this administration. Trump promised mass deportation and has spent his first several months removing existing legal protections from people such as CBP One parolees. What immigrant would receive a letter telling them to “leave the United States immediately” and not assume that it was, on some level, meant for them?

FILED UNDER: Parole, Trump administration