Sara Hamdi was 12 years old when her parents were forced to “register” with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) because they were non-citizens from a Muslim country. She still remembers the anxiety they felt as they reported to the U.S. government. As they feared, their forced registration with ICE would ultimately lead to years of pain and separation without regard for their decades of life in Ohio building their lives, paying taxes, and raising their DACA-recipient daughters. The harms they suffered because of this forced registration are like what millions of people could soon experience through a new non-citizen registration process announced this month by the Trump administration.
Under the new process, which resurrects an outdated immigration law, some undocumented people will face an impossible choice: register with the federal government and face likely detention and deportation; or fail to register and face possible criminal prosecution and time in federal prison. According to the administration, this will apply to approximately 2 to 3 million people—many of whom have lived in the U.S. for 10 years or more, and most of whom have no criminal record but have spent years making rich contributions to their local economies and communities.
Post-9/11: The Last Registration Requirement
The last time in modern history that the U.S. government imposed a registration requirement was in the aftermath of the September 11 terrorist attacks—when Sara’s family faced this same impossible choice. After registering with ICE, Sara’s family found itself subject to years of interactions with ICE that included traumatic months in immigration detention for Sara’s mother and deportation to Morocco for her sister Tina. Sara and her parents have since gained lawful status and citizenship, but Tina is still fighting to return to Ohio to reunite with Sara, their parents, and her two young children she was forced to leave behind.
Sara’s family was one of thousands harmed by the National Security Entry-Exit Registration System (NSEERS) program which required people from certain Muslim countries to register with the government. Under NSEERS, families like Sara’s were under constant surveillance and an easy target at any moment for harsh immigration enforcement in the name of national security, even years after they registered. The program resulted in the deportation of around 14,000 non-citizens with deep ties to the United States. The Bush administration justified the selective registration process as necessary to identify terrorists; but no actual terrorism convictions resulted.
Now, the Trump administration is resurrecting the registration requirement and taking it to a more extreme level by imposing it on millions of non-citizens, including any non-citizen who entered the country without authorization, admission, or parole. Although many non-citizens will be considered registered based on expired visas, current work authorization, or even ongoing removal proceedings, millions of others who have been living and working in the U.S. for years or even decades will be forced into this impossible choice.
Registration with No Benefits
Requiring non-citizens to register with the federal government is not a new idea and one that has been included in legislative proposals for years. But unlike prior registry proposals that provide paths to legal status or temporary protection for non-citizens, this new process offers no benefits.
For example, the 1986 Immigration Control and Reform Act included a registration provision which led to nearly 3 million undocumented immigrants presenting themselves to authorities. Registration under that law required paying a fine as a consequence for being in violation of immigration law and submitting to a criminal background check; but in exchange, the government offered those people legal status.
The new non-citizen registration process does the opposite—it would be the first time that the U.S. implements a large-scale registration requirement without anything positive or meaningful in exchange, responding only with deportation or prosecution.
With approximately 11 million people living in the U.S. who are in violation of civil immigration law, the country needs an immigration system that encourages compliance, not that punishes people for it. If the U.S. government is going to impose a registration requirement, it should, at a minimum, present a path forward to legal status.
Shifting to a ‘Carry Your Papers’ Country
In addition to doling out only punishments for some non-citizens, this new process also suggests that millions of others must carry their papers with them in case of any interaction with a law enforcement officer. Under a law that the administration intends to enforce alongside the new registration process, a failure to carry proof of registration can also result in criminal prosecution. In other words, non-citizens who have lawful status and are considered registered, as well as U.S. citizens, could be required to always have their papers on them to show this proof. This would be the first time that America would become a “carry your papers” country—a practice that violates core libertarian and privacy interests Americans have long revered.
Even decades after their forced registration, Sara’s family continues to suffer the harms of their forced registration as they fight to reunite with Tina. Sara longs for the return of her beloved sister and bears the burden of caring for Tina’s two children who remain bereft from the absence of their mother as they grow up in Ohio.
Her family’s painful experience with the immigration system started with registration nearly two decades ago and lingers on with never-ending separation—underscoring the irreparable harms that this this new non-citizen registration process is certain to impose on far too many American families.
FILED UNDER: 9/11, Muslim Register, Trump administration
