President Donald Trump has resumed enforcement of the 1940 law requiring immigrants to register names and fingerprints with federal agencies, or faces criminal penalties that could accelerate deportation and ban legalization.
“The Trump administration will enforce all immigration laws. We will not choose and choose the laws that we enforce,” the Department of Homeland Security said. statement. “We need to know who is in our country for the safety and security of our hometown and all Americans.”
DHS detailed the new policy, saying:
INA, with limited exceptions, All aliens over the age of 14 who are not fingerprinted or registered when applying for a US visa will remain in the US for more than 30 daysyou will need to apply for registration and fingerprinting.
If convicted, offenders face up to six months in prison. The Criminal Code was passed in 1940 and was made public until the 1960s, when the federal government resumed the influx of immigrants since 1924.
The law makes it clear that if immigrants do not register they will break criminal law, said Art Arthur, a former immigration judge who works at the Center for Immigration Research.
If immigrants register, they can be easily spotted by immigration and customs enforcement agencies, he told Breitbart News.
However, if immigrants do not register, their criminal violations will help state and local police detain them for later deportation, he added.
He also said that refusing to register is a criminal violation of the law, so federal agencies will acquire new tools against politicians hiding illegal immigrants in “sanctuary cities.”
The policy covers at least 14 million illegal immigrants, including those who continue on visas, such as former temporary workers and students. Under President Joe Biden, officials invited migrants to cut wages and withdraw rent by around 9 million people across the tropical border.
Every year, many illegal immigrants are quietly legalized by a “positional adjustment” loophole in the country's immigration law. However, this registration requirement may allow officials to block the legalization process.
The DHS statement used the announcement to encourage illegal immigrants to return home. If you leave now, you may have the opportunity to return [legally] And we enjoy our freedom and live our American dreams. ”
A large number of lawsuits can delay the process. But “There's nothing they can do…it's in the law,” Arthur said.
Immigration activists are shady.
“We see efforts to expand arrests through any means possible, so this provision is likely aimed at creating additional justifications to arrest and deport more individuals from the country.” Pro-immigration I support Chris Ramon I said New York Times.
“I don't think they can do this without going through the proper legal process,” says Nancy Morawetz, a professor at New York University. I said Washington Post. “You can't just say, 'Oh, I'm going to go back and read the law that way.' You need to explain why you are changing it and why it's legal. ”
Immigration lawyers are worried:
The DHS program “is based on laws from half a century ago and is reminiscent of a shameful historical example of race- and nationality-based registration requirements in the United States.” I complained National Immigration Law Center. The complaint suggests that supporters argue that the law is illegal to encourage racism.
