Two families living in Millcreek, Utah, are pursuing legal action after receiving a notice from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) informing them that they had one week to leave the country or face potential law enforcement measures.
On April 11, an immigrant family from Venezuela received an email that began with “It’s time for you to leave the United States,” letting the family know that their parole was being terminated seven days from the email, and that if they didn’t “immediately” leave on their own accord, they would “be subject to potential law enforcement actions that will result in your removal.”
“Do not attempt to remain in the United States — the federal government will find you. Please depart the United States immediately,” the email concluded.
Megan Staples, a family friend, told the Deseret News that the email initially appeared fraudulent. “At first, I was like, is this a scam? Because, would the government really say ‘we will find you,’ like that sounds like a scammer,” she said.
During a media conference on Friday afternoon, two of the family’s attorneys, Jim McConkie with the Refugee Justice League and Richard N. W. Lambert, former head of the criminal division in the United States Attorney’s Office in the state of Utah, said it has not been verified that the email came from DHS.
Millcreek Mayor Jeff Silvestrini became emotional when he said that for the sake of the Constitution, he “hopes” that these letters were sent by mistake. If not, “This is an affront to constitutionally guaranteed rights to all persons in the United States.”
He said his team has reached out to Utah’s federal congressional delegation to find answers and to help remedy concerns.
“We’re not pretending that Millcreek is a sanctuary city, and we respect the right and the duty of our federal partners to enforce our immigration laws and even to deport violent criminals,” Silvestrini said. “But that does not mean that we will stand by silently when the rights of people in our Millcreek community are violated.”
So far, the Department of Homeland Security has not responded to the family’s legal team. Still, McConkie said they have a potential meeting next week and are also meeting with the U.S. Attorney’s Office and preparing for a “class action lawsuit with a nationwide nature.”
According to friends of the families, they are so fearful of being deported that they do not wish to speak to the press or provide personal information for fear of being detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Are the families here legally?
McConkie told the Deseret News that the families are all here legally and, from what he’s learned, have no criminal records.
A Haitian family, not using the same legal representation as the Venezuelans, also received a similar message from DHS. They have been living in the U.S. since 2023 under a family sponsorship program, which is a different kind of legal matter, McConkie said during the media conference.
The two Venezuelan families that are pursuing legal action are related. The first family consists of a mother, father and a son. The second family consists of another son of the first family and his spouse, who arrived at the Mexico-U.S. border last year.
The families had traveled from Venezuela to Mexico, where they worked for a year to earn enough money to enter the United States. Staples said they went through customs at the Mexican border with all the necessary paperwork and all but one, the youngest son, was allowed entry.
“They accused their 19-year-old son of being a criminal because he had a few tattoos on his arm, and he was whisked away, and they haven’t heard from their son in six months, which means we now have to go back to the government and petition the government to give us his whereabouts and to tell us why he was picked up, and then we’ll ask him to be returned,” McConkie said.
The family members have obtained federal permits, allowing them to work, as they follow the procedure to become asylum-seekers. They have an asylum hearing date before an immigration judge scheduled for 2028.
“These are people that have jobs, they’re working, they’re paying their taxes, they are legally entitled to be here and without an opportunity for a hearing, our government department of DHS is commanding them to leave the country,” McConkie said.
“The problem with this, from my perspective, is that the United States is deceiving them intentionally into believing that they need to leave when, in fact, they don’t, because they’re legally here,” he told the Deseret News. “I have never in my life, ever seen such a situation like this, where due process is completely ignored and intentionally ignored, and where the government is propagating misinformation to achieve their ends.”
Community rallies around immigrant families
Friends and neighbors of the immigrant families surrounded the mayor to demonstrate their collective support for the safety of their friends during Friday’s press conference.
When the families received the notice, Staples said the whole neighborhood was utilizing every available resource to find legal help.
“We had a couple of really amazing attorneys text us back and say, ‘This notice does not/should not apply to them because they have filed for asylum.’ So this notice, I think they sent out to everyone, but it should not apply to families, because they have applied for asylum.”
Brad Neff, a Millcreek resident, told Deseret News that he appreciated “the goodness and work ethic and hopefulness of my Venezuelan and Haitian neighbors. They have entered the country legally. They have met every requirement the government has asked of them. It is manifestly unfair to try to kick them out of the country by intimidating them and not giving them due process.”
“Regarding immigration in a broad sense, it is my opinion that our country will find, as it always has, that immigrants give us far more than we give them,” Neff said. “That has been my experience with my immigrant friends and neighbors. They have enriched our neighborhood, religious community and my family’s life.”
One of the Venezuelan family’s neighbors, Steve Ayers, told the Deseret News that the whole neighborhood community has rallied behind them. “They are so much a part of our community now that I consider them as family. It’s heart- wrenching to hear of their revocation of refugee status and the short period to leave. It angers me as this feels so unjust.”
He added that he understands the federal government’s priority to remove “the bad characters out of our country, but this is going too far. Our system provides for due process on an individual basis.”