Orders to leave the country — some for US citizen — sow confusion among
immigrants
[April 23, 2025]
By VALERIE GONZALEZ and GISELA SALOMON
McALLEN, Texas (AP) — Hubert Montoya burst out laughing when the U.S.
Department of Homeland Security emailed to say he should leave the
country immediately or risk consequences of being deported. He is a U.S.
citizen.
“I just thought it was absurd,” the Austin, Texas, immigration attorney
said.
It was an apparent glitch in the Trump administration's dismantling of
another Biden-era policy that allowed people to live and work in the
country temporarily. U.S. Customs and Border Protection is quietly
revoking two-year permits of people who used an online appointment app
at U.S. border crossings with Mexico called CBP One, which brought in
more than 900,000 people starting in January 2023.
The revocation of CBP One permits has lacked the fanfare and formality
of canceling Temporary Protected Status for hundreds of thousands whose
homelands were previously deemed unsafe for return and humanitarian
parole for others from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela who came
with financial sponsors. Those moves came with official notices in the
Federal Register and press releases. Judges halted them from taking
effect after advocacy groups sued.
CBP One cancellation notices began landing in inboxes in late March
without warning, some telling recipients to leave immediately and others
giving them seven days. Targets included U.S. citizens.
Timothy J. Brenner, a Connecticut-born lawyer in Houston, was told April
11 to leave the U.S. “I became concerned that the administration has a
list of immigration attorneys or a database that they’re trying to
target to harass,” he said.
CBP confirmed in a statement that it issued notices terminating
temporary legal status under CBP One. It did not say how many, just that
they weren't sent to all beneficiaries, which totaled 936,000 at the end
of December.
CBP said notices may have been sent to unintended recipients, including
attorneys, if beneficiaries provided contact information for U.S.
citizens. It is addressing those situations case-by-case.
Online chat groups reflect fear and confusion, which, according to
critics, is the administration's intended effect. Brenner said three
clients who received the notices chose to return to El Salvador after
being told to leave.
“The fact that we don’t know how many people got this notice is part of
the problem. We’re getting reports from attorneys and folks who don’t
know what to make of the notice,” said Hillary Li, counsel for the
Justice Action Center, an advocacy group.
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Migrants seeking asylum leave an immigration office after their
scheduled meetings were canceled and they were turned away soon
after President Donald Trump canceled the CBP One app, Jan. 20,
2025, in Matamoros, Mexico. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)
President Donald Trump suspended CBP One for new arrivals his first
day in office but those already in the U.S. believed they could stay
at least until their two-year permits expired. The cancellation
notices that some received ended that sense of temporary stability.
“It is time for you to leave the United States,” the letters began.
“It's really confusing,” said Robyn Barnard, senior director for
refugee advocacy at Human Rights First. “Imagine how people who
entered through that process feel when they're hearing through their
different community chats, rumors or screenshots that some friends
have received notice and others didn't.”
Attorneys say some CBP One beneficiaries may still be within a
one-year window to file an asylum claim or seek other relief.
Notices have been sent to others whose removal orders are on hold
under other forms of temporary protection. A federal judge in
Massachusetts temporarily halted deportations for more than 500,000
Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans who came since late
2022 after applying online with a financial sponsor and flying to a
U.S. airport at their own expense.
Maria, a 48-year-old Nicaraguan woman who cheered Trump's election
and arrived via that path, said the notice telling her to leave
landed like “a bomb. It paralyzed me.”
Maria, who asked to be named only by her middle name for fear of
being detained and deported, said in a telephone interview from
Florida that she would continue cleaning houses to support herself
and file for asylum.
___
Salomon reported from Miami. Associated Press writers Rebecca
Santana in Washington and Elliot Spagat in San Diego contributed.
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