The Trump administration on Tuesday announced it plans to launch a registry requiring immigrants in the country illegally, including children, to submit personal information and fingerprints. Those who are at least 14 years old and don’t comply could face fines or misdemeanor prosecution.
The program, which was immediately assailed by immigrant rights advocates, targets those who have not encountered immigration officials in the past, and ratchets up Trump’s deluge of orders and policy changes intended to toughen immigration laws and facilitate deportations.
It is unclear how people will register, but the Department of Homeland Security is asking all individuals in the country without legal status to prepare by creating an account with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, or USCIS. The agency said it will soon announce a form and process for the registrations.
“No alien will have an excuse for failure to comply with this law,” the announcement states, noting that the registry is not a form of legal status and does not establish employment authorization.
Agency officials cited national security and the safety of U.S. citizens in establishing the program. Immigrants over the age of 18 will also be required to carry Homeland Security-issued evidence of the registration “at all times,” according to details posted on the USCIS website. The program was first reported by the Wall Street Journal.
President Trump outlined his intention to create such a registry in executive orders issued on his first day in office. The program rests on the Alien Registration Act of 1940, enacted as World War II raged in Europe, which required most noncitizens to sign up. It forbade anyone from advocating for the overthrow of government and carried penalties of fines and up to six months in prison for failure to register.
President George W. Bush created a registry for immigrants from Muslim countries after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Thousands of those who registered were deported.
“I would just encourage all of us to imagine how awful it would be to have to have that conversation with your family and how deeply troubling that our government is putting people in that position at the same time that they are unleashing policies and announcements that spread terror throughout those communities,” said Heidi Altman, vice president of policy at the National Immigration Law Center. “You can’t look at this registry announcement in isolation.”
Altman said that because the online registry system hasn’t yet been set up, it’s unclear what exactly the process will look like. She and other advocates plan to watch closely for further details so they can assess its legality. Already, she said, there are many questions regarding legality and constitutionality.
“We know exactly what happens in history when a government asks people to come forward for any sort of registry process on the basis of their nationality, their race or their place of birth,” she said. “A categorical stripping of civil rights and civil liberties usually follows.”
Last week, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem launched a multimillion-dollar ad campaign encouraging those here without status to “self-deport.”
“If you are here illegally, we will find you and deport you,” she said.
