'Time for you to leave': Why legal US citizens have been receiving this mail from DHS

Several US citizens , legally staying in the country, received notices from the Department of Homeland Security asking them to leave the country or else be subjected to potential law enforcement actions. The DHS clarified that it was sent to many by mistake. “It is time for you to leave the United States,” read an email sent to Los Angeles immigration lawyer Harriet Steele, who was born in California. “Do not attempt to remain in the United States–the federal government will find you.”

DHS clarified that Steele received the message because her address was linked to a group of more than 900,000 people who were allowed into the country on a two-year work visa which means these people provided her email though Steele said she does not represent anyone.

“If a non-personal email—such as an American citizen contact—was provided by the alien, notices may have been sent to unintended recipients,” a DHS spokesperson said. “CBP is monitoring communications and will address any issues on a case-by-case basis.”

"To be clear: If you are an alien, being in the United States is a privilege — not a right," the officials added. "We are acting in the best interest of the country and enforcing the law accordingly."

“The Trump administration operates, in many ways, on a mix of cruelty and incompetence. It’s hard to know what the exact process was by which I happened to receive that email in the middle of the night, East Coast time,” Steele said.

This was not a one-off case. Lise Anderson, a doctor from Cromwell, Connecticut, recently disclosed that she received the mail that asked her to leave the country. "The language seemed pretty threatening to whomever it might actually apply to," she said.

Nicole Micheroni, a Massachusetts attorney, also got the email. “At first I thought it was for a client, but I looked really closely and the only name on the email was mine,” she told NBC in Boston. “So it said my parole status had been terminated and I should leave the country within seven days. [It was] probably, hopefully, sent to me in error. But it’s a little concerning these are going out to US citizens."