Ten days isn't a fair chance to be heard. It's cruelty by design.

The Department of Homeland Security has put a new rule into effect that cuts the time our neighbors with refugee status have to respond to a Notice of Intent to Terminate their status from 30 days to just 10 – counted from the day the notice is mailed, not the day it arrives. These folks did everything right. Our own government interviewed, vetted, and resettled them here – and now the administration is targeting them anyway.

There is no appeal when USCIS terminates refugee status, so that response is a refugee's only chance to make their case. Miss the deadline, and they lose their status and their permission to work, and they can be placed in deportation proceedings. Their spouse and children can lose their status too. DHS estimates the rule could impact as many as 186,000 refugees.

DHS put this rule into effect without asking the public first. It is accepting comments only after the fact – through 11:59 p.m. ET on Friday, November 13. Every unique comment becomes part of the official public record on this rule.

Fight back: click "Start Writing," add your words, and submit your comment to DHS before the deadline. It takes just a few minutes >>