Imagine that you are a citizen of a country that has been invaded by a much larger, stronger aggressor, and have barely managed to survive bombardments, missile and drone attacks, and the incursion of land forces in order to escape to another country — a safe place where you can be sheltered until the war ends and you are able to return to your home to begin rebuilding.

Then imagine receiving an email notice from your host country — which you have considered to be your safe haven, your guardian angel, your savior — that you have just seven days to pack up and get out, and where you go and how you manage it are your own problem.

And it was two days after April Fool’s Day, so you’re pretty sure it’s not some sort of a sick joke.

Well, thanks to the Washington Brain Trust, that’s exactly what happened last week to a number of Ukrainians — legally in the U.S. under a Biden-administration humanitarian parole program — who had nowhere to go and no time to make arrangements for themselves and their families.

The message, which was designated a “notice of termination of parole,” said simply: “It is time for you to leave the United States. . . . Do not attempt to remain in the United States — the federal government will find you.” [Jessica Dean and Kaanita Iyer, CNN, April 5, 2025.]

The fact that the notice was followed the next day by another email advising that the first one had been sent “in error” can never erase the trauma that the recipients endured when they believed that their lives were once again being upended. They were told the second time around that “no action will be taken . . . the terms of your parole as originally issued remain unchanged at this time.” [Id.]

“ . . . at this time.”

In light of the mass deportation of migrants being undertaken by the Trump administration at this very moment, the initial message must have seemed doubly threatening. And which one should they believe? Even if the second notice — the correction — is true, what does it mean by “at this time”? What might happen tomorrow, or next week?

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has now confirmed that the “parole program has not been terminated,” and stated that there are no plans to end the program. But the psychological damage has already been done.

According to Angela Boelens, president and founder of IA NICE, an organization created to help sponsor Ukrainian families: “This shocked everyone that received this.” She spoke of two women — one with an infant and the other pregnant — who contacted them and “were just immediately terrorized. They were crying, calling their sponsors, saying, ‘What did I do?’” [Id.]

Boelens said, “It’s actually left us with more questions than what we had before. We’re asking ourselves as sponsors and as a community, you know, ‘Who wrote this letter? Why was it written in such harsh terms?’” [Id.]

“Who?” and “why?” indeed!

*. *. *

Coming, as it has, on the heels of SignalGate, wherein — just in case any reader has actually been able to forget that unprecedented disaster — a reporter was mistakenly included on a conference call with top defense and security officials concerning an imminent attack on Houthi rebels in Yemen, who knows what to believe any longer . . . other than the fact that the inmates are actually running the asylum in Washington!

And you think the “Cuckoo’s Nest” was scary?

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
4/6/25