Connecticut resident Dr. Lisa Anderson has been forced to seek help from immigration attorneys after receiving an email from the Department of Homeland Security's Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
The email told her to leave the United States immediately.
Others have received similar messages under the Trump administration's attack on Black and brown immigrants—regardless of their immigration status. But Dr. Anderson's case is a perfect demonstration of why due process before deportation is critical.
Republican President Donald Trump's Secretary of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem, and her ICE agents might perform well for gun-toting photo ops, but incompetence is apparent in the execution of their official duties.
Why is Dr. Anderson different from any undocumented immigrant, or asylum seeker, or visa holder, or green card carrier who has been targeted by ICE?
Lisa Anderson was born in Pennsylvania, which has been part of the United States since December 12, 1787. That makes Dr. Anderson a U.S. citizen.
Her initial thought was the email was a phishing scam or spam, but then vetting determined the email was authentic and had been sent by DHS.
You can see news coverage here:
The physician—who now lives in Cromwell, Connecticut—has no criminal record, has never applied for a visa, and has never been a citizen of any country other than the United States.
Yet she received an email with the first line stating:
"It is time for you to leave the United States."
NBC News via Lisa Anderson
The email stated Anderson should leave the country voluntarily before she is rounded up by ICE and deported.
Dr. Anderson told NBC News:
"The language seemed pretty threatening to whomever it might actually apply to."
Before Anderson, a pair of Massachusetts immigration attorneys—who are also U.S. citizens—received the same email. At the time, DHS claimed the attorneys' emails must have been given as point of contact for a client, so the message went to them in error.
But that excuse for agency incompetence doesn't work for Dr. Anderson, who told NBC:
"I don’t have anything to do with immigration and I never thought that I would have needed the services of an immigration attorney either, and that’s where I find myself."
People were appalled that a process bypassing constitutionally guaranteed due process is so fraught with errors.
At the advice of her personal attorneys, Dr. Anderson is carrying her passport with her at all times while she seeks to hire an attorney that specializes in immigration law.
Dr. Anderson also voiced concern for those without her resources:
"It does make me concerned there’re a lot more people out there like me who probably also thought this was spam, who probably didn’t realize, 'I have a problem.'"
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