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PaperclipPerfector  11mo ago (text post)   34406 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of April 14, 2025

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From /r/NotTheOnion: DHS told her to leave the country. She's a citizen — and an immigration attorney

Annoyingly, the article doesn't include the full text of the email, but rather has an embeded video showing that the recipient posted images of the text to twitter, but a photo shows part of the email on a phone screen.

"At first I thought it was for a client, but I looked really closely and the only name on the email was mine," said Micheroni. "So it said my parole status had been terminated and I should leave the country within seven days."

...

Micheroni is also an immigration attorney, working with many clients facing possible deportation issues, so her name and email are on a lot of paperwork.

"The language in the email is very threatening," she said. "And it looks kind of like a sketchy spam email. It doesn't look like an official government notice, but it is."

In a statement, a senior Department of Homeland Security official told NBC10 Boston that Customs and Border Protection is issuing notices terminating parole for individuals who do not have lawful status to remain, and "CBP used the known email addresses of the alien to send notifications. If a non-personal email-such as an American citizen contact-was provided by the alien, notices may have been sent to unintended recipients. CBP is monitoring communications and will address any issues on a case-by-case basis."

Supposing it was intended for a client, that person's parole smay have been terminated without their knowledge - how many contact methods does DHS use? Hopefully, the DHS is being clear about the whose parole is being terminated and the timelines, such that Micheronoi could easily narrow down which of her clients need to check their status, but that's the same DHS who mistook a citizen for someone with temporary, conditional residency - it wasn't addressed to a client, but sent to her email; it was addressed to her, with no mention of a client.

What base rate of such errors should we expect from a normally-functioning DHS, what rate of such errors should be taken as evidence of abnormal incompetence or maliciousness by the Trump II DHS, and why?

how many contact methods does DHS use?

I suspect DHS could have decided not to grant parole without three valid, tested methods of contact, but that was either deemed too much effort or not in line with the previous administration's political objectives.

IMO we should design these systems to avoid even accidental incentives for misuse: establishing "if you provide incorrect information, we can't reach you and therefore you can't be expected to comply with otherwise lawful orders to your perceived detriment" is not a sustainable precedent. There is a reason you can't just send your W-2s to the address of the municipal landfill and tell the IRS you didn't know you owed income taxes.

Even more so, we should just print each individual 10 copies of a QR code that they are obligated to scan and visit at least once per month. Number and laminate them. Provide a 800 number and a shortened URL plus a 12 digit unique code on the backside as a fallback if they don't have a camera.

IMO we should design these systems to avoid even accidental incentives for misuse: establishing "if you provide incorrect information, we can't reach you and therefore you can't be expected to comply with otherwise lawful orders to your perceived detriment" is not a sustainable precedent.

No argument from me.

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