Nancy Morawetz: The Immigration Registration Trap Goes Live

In March, the Trump administration announced that all “aliens” unlawfully in the United States must register with the U.S. government.  Not a fan of the registration requirement, Nancy Morawetz for Just Security (The Immigration Registration Trap Goes Live) offers critical analysis of the requirement.

On April 10, a district court denied a preliminary injunction motion that would have halted the Trump administration’s  interim final rule (IFR) requiring noncitizens to register with the government. According to Morawetz, “[i]t is difficult to overstate the impact of this new rule.”

The rule went into effect last Friday.  Morawetz writes that the new rule “reverses seventy-five years of regulations and requires millions of undocumented immigrants to fill out a complex online registration form, be fingerprinted,  download, and `at all times’ carry proof that they registered. As many experts will tell you, the registration rule is essentially a trap for noncitizens, mandating that noncitizens provide information that will facilitate mass deportation on pain of criminal sanction.”

KJ