Aldo Martinez received an email April 11 from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), telling him to leave the country or he would be removed. It read:

“You are currently here because the Department of Homeland Security paroled you into the United States for a limited period. DHS is now exercising its discretion to terminate your parole. Unless it expires sooner, your parole will terminate seven days from the date of this notice. If you do not depart the United States immediately, you will be subject to potential law enforcement actions that will result in your removal from the United States.“

“I was born in National City, California,” Martinez said. “I was never paroled, I was never admitted into this country, I am no type of parole.”

Although he was born in the U.S., Martinez said he is still worried, since he has been helping the undocumented community for years.

Martinez is a representative accredited by the Department of Justice to provide immigration legal services and was part of the organization Al Otro Lado, conducting workshops teaching immigrants to represent themselves in immigration court and helping them fill out asylum applications.

Martinez said he was also part of several lawsuits against the first Trump administration four years ago.

“Lawsuits to stop the limitations that they were putting on immigrants seeking asylum in the United States,” Martinez said.

President Donald Trump said in a memorandum on March 22 that he would seek sanctions against attorneys for what he called “misconduct” in immigration cases: “Accountability is especially important when misconduct by lawyers and law firms threatens our national security, homeland security, public safety or election integrity.”

On April 11, Massachusetts resident and U.S. citizen Nicole Micheroni received a similar email from the federal government telling her to leave the country. She was baffled.

“At first I thought it was for a client, but I looked really closely, and the only name on the email was mine,” Micheroni said. 

Martinez said he hasn’t done anything wrong, but added that it’s not just lawyers or legal representatives who should be concerned.

“I was surprised and scared because this administration would have no problem sending ICE after me even though I am a citizen,” Martinez said.

Martinez doesn’t know why he received the DHS letter, but he can’t help but think that the memorandum could have something to do with it.

“I just wanted to speak out, because we can’t allow this to happen to our community,” Martinez said.

In a statement to NBC 7, DHS said Martinez may have received this email because his clients have used his address when they didn’t have email access.

“Customs and Border Protection is issuing notices terminating parole for individuals who do not have lawful status to remain, and CBP used the known email addresses of the alien to send notifications. If a non-personal email — such as an American citizen contact — was provided by the alien, notices may have been sent to unintended recipients. CBP is monitoring communications and will address any issues on a case-by-case basis.”

Still, Martinez said, he’s concerned immigration lawyers are being retaliated against.

“I think it is an intimidation tactic against our community whether you’re a citizen or legal permanent resident or undocumented,” Martinez said, “but they’re not going to stop me from fighting for immigrants’ rights to keep defending clients.”

Martinez, who currently works for the non-profit community center La Maestra and provides immigration legal services in detention centers, doesn’t know what’s going to happen regarding his letter but said he’s afraid of being detained by immigration agents and expelled from the country where he was born and becoming another mistake committed by the Trump administration.