PHOENIX – An Arizona immigration attorney who is a U.S. citizen isn’t sure why she received notice from the federal government that she needs to self-deport.
“Maybe incompetence, maybe intimidation. Most likely incompetence,” Pamela Rioles Saeed, who was born in Boston and works in Tucson, told KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Outspoken with Bruce and Gaydos on Thursday.
Rioles Saeed said some of her clients received the same notice from the Department of Homeland Security last week as part of the Trump administration’s efforts to ramp up deportations.
“Only difference being I’m the U.S. citizen,” she said.
While the Arizona immigration attorney is leaning toward incompetence as the reason she got the deportation letter, she’s not ruling out intimidation.
“We do know that immigration attorneys have been targeted,” Rioles Saeed said. “There’s an executive order basically saying they’re investigating us for fraud and things like that. So, I have a belief that this could be intimidation. They’re trying to stifle our activities protecting the due process rights of our clients.”
Another thing she isn’t ruling out is a knock on her door from immigration agents who might try to enforce the deportation notice.
“I am fortunate enough to have the facilities to defend myself against that if something were to happen,” she said. “But, I mean, it could happen, I guess.”
What did Arizona immigration attorney think when she read notice?
Rioles Saeed said the notice hit her inbox at 12:24 a.m. last Friday and she first read it while going through her emails that morning.
“I was very confused, very frustrated that I received that notice because my first thought was, ‘How many other people who maybe don’t know their status or aren’t familiar with their case or don’t have the luxury of an immigration attorney to explain what’s going on also received this notice,’” she said. “And I thought, ‘How careless that they would send this to me.’”
The Arizona immigration attorney said most of her clients are migrants from Afghanistan seeking asylum in the U.S. As part of the process, they were placed on parole and allowed to remain in the country until an immigration judge could hear their case.
Notice went to asylum seekers following legal procedures, attorney says
The people who received the notices last week were told they have to leave the U.S. because their parole was being revoked.
Rioles Saeed said her clients have done everything they were supposed to in order to lawfully seek protection in the U.S. from “a well-founded fear of legitimate harm” in their homeland.
“So, this was particularly shocking to receive, especially after what many of my Afghan clients did for the U.S. government,” she said.
Rioles Saeed noted that one her clients who already was granted asylum also received the deportation notice.
“He’s terrified. He said, ‘Where should I go? Where do I pack my bags?’ I said, ‘No, you’re staying here, thank you very much,’” she said.
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