The Trump administration’s new requirement for immigrants in the country to register with the federal government has prompted swift backlash from advocacy groups.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced Tuesday evening that U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services would set up a website for immigrants to register with the federal government as the first step to self-deporting from the United States.
“These folks that are here in this country illegally can self-register … and we will help them go home,” Noem told Fox News host Jesse Watters on Tuesday evening. “It allows them an opportunity to come back to this country and to be an American.”
However, a number of aspects of the registration process have triggered serious concerns among immigrant rights groups and immigration lawyers, including the steep penalties for not cooperating and making it easier for federal immigration officers to find and deport those who register.
Charles Kuck, an immigration lawyer and adjunct professor at Emory University in Atlanta, said he had no reason to believe that registering would not make immigrants an easier target for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the federal agency that arrests and deports illegal immigrants.
“Obviously, if you register ICE is coming to pick you up if you don’t have [Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals] or [Temporary Protected Status], your choice,” wrote Kuck in a long post to X.
The registry announcement heightens “anxiety” among the 12 million illegal immigrants living in the U.S., according to an analysis published Wednesday by the American Immigration Council in Washington.
“Immigrant communities around the United States are already living in fear of the Trump administration’s scaled-up immigration enforcement efforts,” the AIC analysis reads. “News of the registration requirement is likely to exacerbate the fear and anxiety in these communities.
“Anxiety, especially when stoked by rumors and misinformation, can strike people who are not in fact targeted by a policy; it can also terrorize people (whether targeted or not) to the point of harm for themselves and their families,” the AIC report continues.
Cyrus Mehta, an immigration attorney and adjunct professor of law at Brooklyn Law School, said the Trump administration directive would “sow fear and chaos.” Those who fear registering may lose out even more than those who do, Mehta added in a post to X. If they do face prosecution, they may later have a problem applying to become a lawful permanent resident.
Noem’s Tuesday announcement followed through on President Donald Trump’s Jan. 20 executive order, Protecting the American People Against Invasion, which directed the Department of Homeland Security to ensure all “aliens” complied with the government mandate outlined in the Immigration and Nationality Act.
That law requires that immigrants 14 years of age or older who were not previously fingerprinted or registered when obtaining a visa or being released into the country from the border, do so now. Parents must also register children under the age of 14, but they will not be fingerprinted.
Immigrants will then be given registration cards that they must carry with them at all times.
Failure to register or carry the registration card comes with the risk of criminal and civil penalties, a new addition compared to years past. Offenders could face a maximum $5,000 fine and six months in federal prison.
“Most aliens in the United States have already registered, as required by law,” according to USCIS’s registration page.
Kuck also estimated that 6 million immigrants may be eligible to register.
“You CANNOT be deported for not registering, unless you are CONVICTED of the ‘crime,’” Kuck wrote. “How many federal court judges and US attorneys will they have to hire to actually try (why would a person plead this out) 6 million cases?”
Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, a senior fellow at the AIC, said the basic premise of the registry was outdated and failed to meet the moment.
“This is a World War 2 era law which has never been fully enforced in the modern era,” Reichlin-Melnick wrote in a post to X. “More guidance to come, but the impact could be significant and expose even US citizens and green card holders to criminal liability if they don’t register an undocumented child over 13.”
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Trump won the 2024 presidential election and the popular vote by promising an immigration crackdown and closing up borders. He has already issued a wave of executive orders designed to make illegal entry more difficult and has ordered ramped-up deportation efforts. The registry is part of an effort to compel “mass self-deportation” to take the pressure off law enforcement.
“An alien’s failure to depart the U.S. is a crime that could result in significant financial penalty,” DHS officials said in the announcement. “An alien’s failure to register is a crime that could result in a fine, imprisonment, or both. For decades, this law has been ignored—not anymore.”
