# It's happening: Federal immigration officials telling American citizens they must leave the country **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Tags:** trump\ **Created:** [April 18, 2025, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-happening-federal-immigration-officials-telling-american-citizens-they-must-leave-the-country/1017168 "2025-04-18T13:29:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2025, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-happening-federal-immigration-officials-telling-american-citizens-they-must-leave-the-country/1017168/1 "2025-04-18T13:29:23Z")
Continuing the discussion from [The Trump deportation news thread](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-deportation-news-thread/1013404/528): > [@The Trump deportation news thread](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-deportation-news-thread/1013404/528): > > Thing are just going so well … > > > A doctor born in the United States says she received an email from federal immigration authorities demanding that she leave the country immediately. > > > > Lisa Anderson, a physician from Cromwell, Connecticut, told NBC Connecticut on Wednesday that she recently received a letter from the Department of Homeland Security telling her, “It is time for you to leave the United States." > > [American doctor receives email from immigration officials telling her to leave the country immediately](https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/doctor-email-immigration-leave-country-rcna201698) * * * > [@The Trump deportation news thread](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-deportation-news-thread/1013404/524): > > [U.S.-born American citizen under ICE hold in Florida after driving from Georgia](https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/us-born-citizen-detained-ice-immigration-florida-rcna201800) > > Of course this was obviously going to happen. * * * Okay, sports fans. These two stories have chilled me to the bone. Serious question: should we – those of us who condemn trump and his B.S. loudly on this board and possibly elsewhere – be braced for the metaphorical knock on the door (more likely the email notification tone)? Watching Rachel Maddow last night got me thinking about this topic and then these two stories showed up on the board this morning. I’m not on other social media platforms (FB, Instagram, TikTok, etc.) but it would be a simple task for AI (“A-1” hehe) software to stumble on this board and find lots of unkind statements about Fearless Leader stopping just short of… well… intervention by Acts of God (if there is a God). Are wisps of fear starting to lick the back of your brain about your own or someone else’s (family, friend, colleague) vulnerability to sudden snatching off the street with no access to a lawyer or the other lawful protections that we routinely see on every episode of _Law & Order_? In short, are they coming for us? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2025, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-happening-federal-immigration-officials-telling-american-citizens-they-must-leave-the-country/1017168/2 "2025-04-18T13:51:04Z")
They’ve been coming for us for the past century and a half, if you’re an empathetic person who defines “us” expansively enough to include the people they’re coming for. If they’re coming for people, it shouldn’t matter which people they’re coming for. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2025, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-happening-federal-immigration-officials-telling-american-citizens-they-must-leave-the-country/1017168/3 "2025-04-18T13:54:23Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > Serious question: should we – those of us who condemn trump and his B.S. loudly on this board and possibly elsewhere – be braced for the metaphorical knock on the door (more likely the email notification tone)? I’m not too worried-- _yet_. I have wondered though, if, say for example, some governmental authority wanted to find out who one of us actually was in order for some ‘simple questioning’, how anonymous are any of us actually on this board? What would the process look like-- would some sort of warrant be issued to the parent company who owns the SD, and then the company would have to choose to either capitulate and hand over the identity info, or fight it in court? ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2025, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-happening-federal-immigration-officials-telling-american-citizens-they-must-leave-the-country/1017168/4 "2025-04-18T14:06:00Z")
What I am wondering is what happens if a US citizen receives such a letter and chooses to ignore it? Is there any danger from doing so? BTW I have started to carry my passport card in my wallet. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2025, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-happening-federal-immigration-officials-telling-american-citizens-they-must-leave-the-country/1017168/5 "2025-04-18T14:28:06Z")
As a practical matter, we don’t really have much identifying information about board members. We could (I leave aside the questions of “would” or “should”) provide law enforcement with email addresses, say, but then law enforcement would still have to find some way to connect those email addresses with individuals. They’d stand a much better chance of finding identities through searching up what individual posters have said about themselves, but that would take a lot of work for a dragnet approach. For that matter, it would take a long time before a dragnet approach even noticed an online community as small and insular as ours: They’d be going after the biggies like Xitter, Reddit, and Instagram. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2025, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-happening-federal-immigration-officials-telling-american-citizens-they-must-leave-the-country/1017168/6 "2025-04-18T14:32:07Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > In short, are they coming for us? If Trump goes full-Putin on dissidents here, I’m afraid trying to hide and be anonymous might be the worst strategy. I think we’ll have to stand up in mass numbers and take to the streets. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2025, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-happening-federal-immigration-officials-telling-american-citizens-they-must-leave-the-country/1017168/7 "2025-04-18T14:34:20Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > BTW I have started to carry my passport card in my wallet. Which will be declared a forgery on the spot and you’re gone. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2025, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-happening-federal-immigration-officials-telling-american-citizens-they-must-leave-the-country/1017168/8 "2025-04-18T14:35:11Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > As a practical matter, we don’t really have much identifying information about board members. We could (I leave aside the questions of “would” or “should”) provide law enforcement with email addresses, say, but then law enforcement would still have to find some way to connect those email addresses with individuals. I thought of that, so I checked which email address I have on file in my profile, and unfortunately I used an email that contains the URL of an old side hustle company of mine that would easily lead anyone right to me. Should probably swap that out with a more anonymous email address. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2025, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-happening-federal-immigration-officials-telling-american-citizens-they-must-leave-the-country/1017168/9 "2025-04-18T14:41:32Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > They’ve been coming for us for the past century and a half, if you’re an empathetic person who defines “us” expansively enough to include the people they’re coming for. If they’re coming for people, it shouldn’t matter which people they’re coming for. Repeated for emphasis, and because it seems to have been ignored so far. > [@Procrustus](#): > > If Trump goes full-Putin on dissidents here, I’m afraid trying to hide and be anonymous might be the worst strategy. I think we’ll have to stand up in mass numbers and take to the streets. This too. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2025, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-happening-federal-immigration-officials-telling-american-citizens-they-must-leave-the-country/1017168/10 "2025-04-18T14:48:57Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > Are wisps of fear starting to lick the back of your brain about your own or someone else’s (family, friend, colleague) vulnerability to sudden snatching off the street with no access to a lawyer or the other lawful protections that we routinely see on every episode of _Law & Order_? Starting to? no. Have been since 2016. I doubt posting on this board has anything to do with it. And if it does, you already have. > [@Procrustus](#): > > If Trump goes full-Putin on dissidents here, I’m afraid trying to hide and be anonymous might be the worst strategy. I think we’ll have to stand up in mass numbers and take to the streets. Yup. That’s the only hope we have. And we need to start doing it now. See you on Saturday; there’s another round scheduled. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2025, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-happening-federal-immigration-officials-telling-american-citizens-they-must-leave-the-country/1017168/11 "2025-04-18T17:15:00Z")
It could happen someday that a “good guy with a gun” witnesses an ICE operation and mistakes it for a regular non-sanctioned kidnapping. At any rate, WTF are ICE agents masked and bereft of ID? ---
**Author:** ![echoreply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/echoreply/32/3641_2.png) [@echoreply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/echoreply)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2025, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-happening-federal-immigration-officials-telling-american-citizens-they-must-leave-the-country/1017168/12 "2025-04-18T17:32:48Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > At any rate, WTF are ICE agents masked and bereft of ID? In the past, the ability for law enforcement to remain anonymous has been justified with “fear of reprisal” arguments. There are a patch work of state laws to withhold the names of law enforcement officers under certain circumstances. This can be seen in things like when a cop shoots someone, the cop’s identity may be kept secret pending an investigation. The _other_ answer is of course intimidation and police state tactics. ---
**Author:** ![Ann\_Hedonia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ann_hedonia/32/319_2.png) [@Ann\_Hedonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Hedonia)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2025, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-happening-federal-immigration-officials-telling-american-citizens-they-must-leave-the-country/1017168/13 "2025-04-18T19:23:35Z")
> [@solost](#): > > > [@Chronos](#): > > > > As a practical matter, we don’t really have much identifying information about board members. We could (I leave aside the questions of “would” or “should”) provide law enforcement with email addresses, say, but then law enforcement would still have to find some way to connect those email addresses with individuals. > > I thought of that, so I checked which email address I have on file in my profile, and unfortunately I used an email that contains the URL of an old side hustle company of mine that would easily lead anyone right to me. Should probably swap that out with a more anonymous email address. I would say….it depends. I use a pseudonym on the board but I don’t make a lot of effort to conceal my real identity because I really don’t care. It would be trivially easy to figure out who I am. I don’t really think the government is going to start hunting me based on my posting history here. I’m slightly more concerned about being targeted for my political donations, which are public record. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2025, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-happening-federal-immigration-officials-telling-american-citizens-they-must-leave-the-country/1017168/14 "2025-04-18T21:26:01Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > What I am wondering is what happens if a US citizen receives such a letter and chooses to ignore it? Is there any danger from doing so? I am still wondering about this. A US citizen who received such a letter might think it’s some sort of scam or clearly a mistake. They might think they have nothing to fear. I could see that they might just ignore it. ---
**Author:** ![Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/marvin_the_martian/32/2898_2.png) [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marvin_the_Martian)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2025, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-happening-federal-immigration-officials-telling-american-citizens-they-must-leave-the-country/1017168/15 "2025-04-18T21:43:14Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > What I am wondering is what happens if a US citizen receives such a letter and chooses to ignore it? Is there any danger from doing so? They might “kill” you in the Social Security system like they’ve been trying to do with some immigrants. Which has been a nightmare to correct in the past when the SSA was fully staffed. Who knows how long it would take now… ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2025, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-happening-federal-immigration-officials-telling-american-citizens-they-must-leave-the-country/1017168/16 "2025-04-18T22:07:32Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > > [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > > > What I am wondering is what happens if a US citizen receives such a letter and chooses to ignore it? Is there any danger from doing so? > > I am still wondering about this. A US citizen who received such a letter might think it’s some sort of scam or clearly a mistake. They might think they have nothing to fear. I could see that they might just ignore it. To add to this, [here](https://bsky.app/profile/nicolemicheroni.bsky.social) is the Bluesky account of Nicole Micheroni, a Massachusetts immigration attorney who herself received a letter of removal. She says, “I never took DHS’s scary-sounding notice that I had 7 days to leave the country too seriously, because it was obviously some kind of mistake.” That’s what I expect most US citizens would do if they received such a notice. She also says, “It appears that mass emails like the one I received have gone out to everyone who processed their parole through CBP One.” So that may be how they collected the email addresses to which to send these notices. ---
**Author:** ![orcenio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/orcenio/32/1036_2.png) [@orcenio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/orcenio)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2025, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-happening-federal-immigration-officials-telling-american-citizens-they-must-leave-the-country/1017168/17 "2025-04-18T22:28:53Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > They’ve been coming for us for the past century and a half, if you’re an empathetic person who defines “us” expansively enough to include the people they’re coming for. If they’re coming for people, it shouldn’t matter which people they’re coming for. An American put it another way to me, roughly, they could not believe how many people around them (real life people who they work and chat with) have shown that they would probably dotingly turn in Anne Frank to the authorities for not even a pat on the head. Normally deportation isn’t considered punishing, people are sent to their country of origin where they are free to live their lives…however now I hear that Americans are sending people to some ultra prison in El Salvador from which they can never get out? What in ever loving fuck! How crazy and insane have things gone down there?! You yanks need to grab control of your government back from these fucking fascists. They will not stop. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2025, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-happening-federal-immigration-officials-telling-american-citizens-they-must-leave-the-country/1017168/18 "2025-04-18T22:45:10Z")
> [@orcenio](#): > > How crazy and insane have things gone down there?! It’s crazy. I remind my wife that we can walk to White Rock at low tide. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2025, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-happening-federal-immigration-officials-telling-american-citizens-they-must-leave-the-country/1017168/19 "2025-04-18T22:52:05Z")
There’s probably enough information about me on the Dope for a person who is really, truly determined to find out exactly who I am to do so (besides the one person here who is a Facebook friend, a site where I use my real name). I’ve read stories about Florida residents who posted anti-DeSantis things on assorted social media getting knocks on their doors, and that was before the Mango Mussolini was re-elected. I also think that if TPTB want to ship “those people” to El Salvador to start with this one. > **[Enrique Tarrio](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enrique_Tarrio)** > > Henry "Enrique" Tarrio (US English: /ˈtɑːrioʊ/ TAR-ee-oh; US Spanish: \[taˈri.o\]; born 1983 or 1984) is an American convicted seditionist and far-right activist. From 2018 to 2021, he was the chairman of the Proud Boys, a neo-fascist organization that promotes and engages in political violence in the United States. Along with three other Proud Boys leaders, Tarrio was convicted in May 2023 of seditious conspiracy for his role in the 2021 United States Capitol attack. In September 2023, Tarrio ... ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2025, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-happening-federal-immigration-officials-telling-american-citizens-they-must-leave-the-country/1017168/20 "2025-04-18T22:54:06Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > Which will be declared a forgery on the spot and you’re gone. Or confiscated once the bodycam “malfunctions” and is never seen again. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-happening-federal-immigration-officials-telling-american-citizens-they-must-leave-the-country/1017168.md?page=2)