An American citizen and immigrant rights advocate is speaking out after receiving a chilling email from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), ordering him to leave the country within seven days or face legal consequences.
Aldo Martinez Gomez, a San Diego County native, says he was stunned when he opened the April 10 email. The message, sent by DHS, warned of “criminal prosecution, civil fines, and penalties” if he didn’t exit the United States immediately.
“It is time for you to leave the United States,” the email read.
“I was taken aback,” Martinez Gomez told the hosts of the podcast You Don’t Even Like This Show. “Like, I was born on this side, dude. How are you sending this to me?”
Martinez Gomez is a U.S. citizen and a legal representative at a nonprofit organization, where he advocates for immigrants in court. His daily work regularly places him in proximity to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers.
Despite carrying a passport card for identification, Martinez Gomez says he doesn’t trust ICE officers not to ignore or “lose” it.
“If ICE gets me, I don’t think it’s going to matter either way,” he said. “I carry my border passport card with me. What’s to say they don’t toss it?”
He believes the email is not an administrative mishap—but rather a targeted act of intimidation due to his work defending immigrants.
To protect himself, Martinez Gomez has gone public with his story, speaking to media outlets including KTLA and San Diego’s KGTV, in an effort to create a documented paper trail.
“I’m not seeking fame or attention,” he told KTLA. “I just want to bring light to this issue because I’m not trying to be one of the government’s mistakes.”
DHS responded to the situation in a statement to HuffPost, acknowledging that the email notifications were intended for immigrants and might have been “sent to unintended recipients.” The agency said the alerts were dispatched to email addresses already in their system.
But Martinez Gomez is skeptical.
Given that other immigration attorneys and U.S. citizens also received the same threatening message, he believes this was not a random error but a coordinated attempt to instill fear—particularly amid former President Trump’s recent comments about deporting U.S. citizens to countries like El Salvador.
His concern is not unfounded. One such case is that of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, an immigrant in Maryland who was wrongfully deported to El Salvador, despite a U.S. Supreme Court order demanding his return—an order the Trump administration refused to obey.
Martinez Gomez, however, remains steadfast in his mission.
“I’m still going to represent my clients,” he told the podcast. “I’m still going to advocate for—not just immigrant rights, but everyone’s rights. Because the Constitution covers us all.”
He’s not alone. Others who were born in the U.S. also received similar deportation emails, including a Connecticut-based physician and a Massachusetts-born immigration attorney, both equally baffled by their appearance on DHS’s radar.
As the chilling emails continue to spark fear and outrage, advocates like Martinez Gomez are raising alarms about civil rights, government accountability, and the weaponization of immigration systems—against even American citizens.
