There is some amount of stink attached to this.
Official U.S. business loves paperwork. First rule of “How To Avoid Nigerian Scammers And Other Online Leeches” is never to believe emails purporting to be from the Federal Government. I don’t even trust the notifications via mail service and triple check before doing anything.
She was either fooled by some enterprising troll or she sent it herself to be in the news.
Or one of the poor unfortunate souls she was helping, "borrowed" her email or other info. Or she entered something wrong on a form somewhere and got her and the PUS's email mixed up. And so forth...
Agreed, either this is a self-made hoax or she received a scam email -- and scammers are notoriously good at incorporating current events into their scam verbiage.
Has anyone with the skills done an IP trace on that sending address? Did it come from Nigeria, perhaps? Are they asking for $10,000 in Apple Gift Cards to forestall deportation? (Because that's TOTALLY the preferred form of payment that DHS uses! *smh*)
The fact is, the U.S. Government simply does not cold-email or cold-call a person for any reason (they MIGHT use email to send you updates on processes that YOU initiate via PAPER forms, but only after YOU start the PAPERwork AND check the box asking for email updates). If they have official business with you, you will receive paper letters via USPS. Period. Full stop.
Just when you think all this is common knowledge, you get reminded that "common knowledge", isn't.