AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack, File
The Department of Homeland Security mistakenly emailed Ukrainian war refugees in the U.S. on Friday to inform them they must self-deport.
The message, which DHS has acknowledged was sent in error, told an undisclosed number of people in the country legally under the Ukrainian Humanitarian Parole program that they had seven days to leave the country.
CBS News reported the Thursday email read, “DHS is now exercising its discretion to terminate your parole. Unless it expires sooner, your parole will terminate 7 days from the date of this notice.”
The alert added those who failed to self-deport would “be subject to potential law enforcement actions that will result in your removal from the United States.”
The message concluded, “Again, DHS is terminating your parole. Do not attempt to remain in the United States — the federal government will find you… Please depart the United States immediately.”
According to The Washington Post, the email sparked a panic:
The Trump administration mistakenly sent an urgent notice this week to some Ukrainians who
fled the Russian invasion saying it was terminating their provisional legal status in seven days and ordering them to leave the United States “immediately,” frightening immigrants and advocates across the country.[…]The terse and threatening email stunned Ukrainians across the country when it landed in their inboxes Friday, advocates for immigrants said, leaving parents shaken and children in tears. It arrived on the same day that a Russian ballistic missile landed near a playground in Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s hometown, killing at least 16 people, including six children, despite a partial ceasefire.
DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said of the mistake, “A message was sent in error to some Ukrainians” and the program was still active.
According to CBS News, the Ukrainian Humanitarian Parole program currently offers temporary legal status to an estimated 240,000 Ukrainian nationals.
President Donald Trump has discussed bringing an end to the program but has offered no timetable as to when.