The Trump administration is creating a registry for all people who are in the U.S. illegally, and those who don’t self-report could face fines or prosecution.

Summary

The Trump administration has announced a new registry for undocumented immigrants, requiring them to self-report, provide fingerprints, and list their addresses.

Those who fail to comply could face fines or prosecution under the Immigration and Nationality Act.

The move aligns with the administration’s broader crackdown on illegal immigration and mass deportation plans.

Critics, including the National Immigration Law Center, warn the registry could be used to target individuals for deportation, drawing parallels to past government efforts to register noncitizens for national security purposes.

  • @Maggoty
    2•4 days ago

    So this is interesting. (In a bad way of course, because why can’t they do even one good thing?) But first there’s no specified punishment in the statute. And I’m having trouble finding a punishment listed anywhere for not registering. The executive can’t just make up an authority to punish people.

    Then there’s the fact that this law hasn’t been used since World War 2. Not even the 1950’s red scare tried to use it. It’s very likely this law was meant to be used in complement with extraordinary powers relating to World War 2. Powers the government hasn’t had access to since then.

    Okay, I finally found the punishment section. It’s 8 USC 1306 and yeah we can see why it hasn’t been used before. Six months in jail or 1,000 dollars fine for willfully failing to register. For which they essentially have to prove a thought crime, (you knew and did not register). Failure to update an existing registration is simply removal.

    So the law hasn’t been used because we already have the authority to remove unregistered immigrants and paying for their short jail stay is a ridiculous mismanagement of money.