Three children play where the border wall separating Mexico and the United States meets the Pacific Ocean, Friday, Feb. 21, 2025, in Tijuana, Mexico. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
Immigration officials say anyone living in the U.S. illegally will soon have to register with the federal government, and those who don’t could face fines, imprisonment or both.
The registry will be mandatory for everyone 14 and older who doesn’t have legal status, according to a Tuesday statement from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, a branch of the Department of Homeland Security. Each person must register and provide their fingerprints and address, the statement says, and parents and guardians of anyone under age 14 must ensure they are registered.
Here are some details about the registry — the latest in a string of Trump administration moves related to campaign promises to crack down on illegal immigration and deport millions living in the country illegally:
Federal immigration law has long required that people living illegally in the U.S. register with the government. Those laws can be traced back to the Alien Registration Act of 1940, which came amid heightened fears of immigrants in the days leading up to World War II. The current requirements stem from the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952.
But, scholars say, the requirement has rarely been enforced.
Officials say that now will change.
“The Trump administration will enforce all our immigration laws — we will not pick and choose which laws we will enforce,” Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement. “We must know who is in our country for the safety and security of our homeland and all Americans.”
In part, Tuesday’s Homeland Security statement was purely bureaucratic, a way to announce that the law is again being enforced and how people should register.
Officials said they’d “soon announce a form and process for aliens to complete the registration requirement.” On its website, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service directs people to create an online account and says additional information on registering will be available “in the coming days.”
The announcement of the registry allows the Trump administration to flex its political muscle on the key issue of immigration. It’s also a signal to people living in the U.S. illegally.
“If you leave now, you may have the opportunity to return and enjoy our freedom and live the American dream,” McLaughlin’s statement said.
Like much about the registry, that’s unclear for now. But legal scholars say the practical consequences may not matter, as people already living below the legal radar are unlikely to register, which would make them far easier to deport.
“But even if it doesn’t actually accomplish much in terms of deporting more people, it sends a signal to the American people that ”We’re cracking down on immigrants,” and it will also heighten the fear immigrants already have about what’s going on,” said Stephen Yale-Loehr, a longtime immigration law scholar and retired Cornell Law School professor.
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Associated Press writer Rebecca Santana contributed reporting.