The Trump Administration secured a court approval Thursday to enforce an existing but rarely applied law that requires people in the United States illegally to register with the federal government.
The law known as Immigration and Nationality Act goes into effect on Friday.
District Court Judge Trevor N. McFadden’s ruling Thursday came as the administration stepped up its crackdown against undocumented immigrants in the country. The judge’s verdict rejected the contention by a coalition of immigration advocacy organizations that the law was not clear about which immigrants would already be considered as registered.
On the first day of his second White House term President Donald Trump had issued Executive Order 14159, Protecting the American People Against Invasion, which directed the Department of Homeland Security to ensure that aliens comply with their duty to register with the government under section 262 of the Immigration and Nationality Act
According to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the INA requires that, with limited exceptions, all aliens 14 years of age or older who were not registered and fingerprinted (if required) when applying for a U.S. visa and who remain in the United States for 30 days or longer, must apply for registration and fingerprinting.
Similarly, USCIS says, parents and legal guardians of aliens below the age of 14 must ensure that those aliens are registered. Within 30 days of reaching his or her 14th birthday, all previously registered aliens must apply for re-registration and to be fingerprinted.
The order mandates that once an alien has registered and appeared for fingerprinting, DHS will issue evidence of registration, which aliens over the age of 18 must carry and keep in their personal possession at all times.
On February 25, the Department of Homeland Security said directed that all people in the United States illegally must register with the federal government with the warning that those do not voluntarily registering could be subject to fines or prosecution.
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services in an X post on Thursday also asked all aliens in the United States to register with the federal government.
