SAM WACHMAN, DEPORTATION NOTICE, CORRECTED, 2025

"On April 4, 2025, Trump’s Department of Homeland Security sent Ukrainian refugees an email that began, “It is time for you to leave the United States.” The email instructed Ukrainians to self-deport. “Do not attempt to remain,” the email read—“[we] will find you.” ^[1]

DHS later released a statement ^[2] explaining that the email had been sent in error. In the hours between the email and the clarification, Ukrainians in America shared some of the fear that Venezuelans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Cubans, and undocumented folks in the United States feel daily. It is not yet safe to return to Ukraine; while DHS’s email arrived in Ukrainian refugees’ inboxes, Russia killed six more Ukrainian children. ^[3]

In the hours following DHS’ statement, I redacted the email to create a brief work of erasure poetry. The background photo shows Max, an eleven year old refugee from Kharkiv, Ukraine, visiting the USS Constitution in Boston, Massachusetts. Since fleeing Russian terror in his homeland, Max has become fluent in English and conversational in Spanish. He can name all fifty states and their capitals. Children like him, from all over the world, will grow up and become America — if only they are allowed to."