This is an archive article published on April 15, 2025
US mistakenly sent her a deportation notice. She turned out to be an immigration attorney
Nicole Micheroni was stunned when she received an official-looking email from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) telling her to pack up and leave the country—within seven days.
A senior DHS official told NBC10 Boston that the agency had been using known email addresses—often the ones listed on immigration forms—to contact people under review. And in some cases, those addresses belong to lawyers. (Facebook/@nicole.micheroni)
In what might be the most ironic twist of the Trump-era immigration saga yet, a Massachusetts-based immigration attorney found herself the target of a deportation order… meant for someone else.
Nicole Micheroni, 40, who’s made a career out of helping others navigate the confusing labyrinth of US immigration law, was stunned when she received an official-looking email from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) telling her to pack up and leave the country—within seven days.
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“At first I thought it was for a client,” Micheroni told NBCNews. “But I looked really closely and the only name on the email was mine. So it said my parole status had been terminated and I should leave the country within seven days.”
Born in Newton and raised in Sharon, Massachusetts, Micheroni is about as American as Dunkin’ iced coffee in February. So, understandably, her first reaction was confusion, followed swiftly by concern.
She described the tone of the email as “very threatening,” adding, “And it looks kind of like a sketchy spam email. It doesn’t look like an official government notice, but it is.”
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Turns out the Department of Homeland Security might’ve had a bit of a mix-up. A senior DHS official told NBC10 Boston that the agency had been using known email addresses—often the ones listed on immigration forms—to contact people under review. And in some cases, those addresses belong to lawyers. Whoops.
“CBP used the known email addresses of the alien to send notifications,” the agency explained. “If a non-personal email as an American citizen contact was provided by the alien, notices may have been sent to unintended recipients.”
Translation: if your email appears on forms a lot, there’s a chance you might accidentally get booted from your own country.
The agency did add that it’s “monitoring communications and will address any issues on a case-by-case basis.” Comforting?
Still, Micheroni is rattled, “I think it’s really scary this is going on. I think it says they’re not being careful.”
She told NBC she doesn’t plan to follow up with Homeland Security herself and is treating the situation as a weird bureaucratic error, not a personal threat. But the incident has left her wondering if there’s more going on behind the scenes.
For now, she’s staying put—and hoping this is the last time she sees her own name on a deportation notice.
A senior DHS official told NBC10 Boston that the agency had been using known email addresses—often the ones listed on immigration forms—to contact people under review. And in some cases, those addresses belong to lawyers. (Facebook/@nicole.micheroni) 
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