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.
Willfully failing to register doesn’t mean ‘you knew and did not register’, ignorance of the law isn’t a defense.
Willfully failing to register means ‘you didn’t register and you were not in a coma or otherwise prevented to doing so by things outside of your control’.
Ignorance of the law is actually a defence in many situations. You’re thinking about the reasonable person standard, ignorance of things like lying for monetary gain isn’t a defence. Not knowing you’re supposed to fill out more paperwork through a language barrier is exactly where it’s a defence.