{"id":73171,"date":"2025-05-28T13:44:18","date_gmt":"2025-05-28T20:44:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=73171"},"modified":"2025-05-28T13:44:18","modified_gmt":"2025-05-28T20:44:18","slug":"trumps-alien-registration-requirement-threatens-an-invasion-of-americans-privacy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=73171","title":{"rendered":"Trump\u2019s Alien Registration Requirement Threatens an Invasion \u2014 of Americans\u2019 Privacy"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n
By<\/span>Edward Kissam<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
<\/i>
\n
\n

New immigration-related orders from the Trump administration are confusing and contradictory, and threaten to invade the privacy of all Americans.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\"\"
Credit: Peter Schurmann<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n

Complying with the bevvy of new immigration-related pronouncements out of the Trump White House can seem an impossible task. Instructions are either contradictory, legally incorrect or just plain confusing.<\/p>\n

More alarming, the orders and implementing regulations raise serious concerns over privacy for citizen and non-citizen alike.<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s Inauguration Day Executive Order 14159, \u201cProtecting the American People Against Invasion,\u201d is a case in point. A provision in the order, the \u201cAlien Registration Requirement<\/a>,\u201d compels all non-citizen residents to fill out a new USCIS form (G-325R). It is riddled with ambiguous questions and legal errors in instructions for filling it out.<\/p>\n

Some examples:<\/p>\n

Q. 14: Since entry, in what activities have you been engaged?\u00a0This is an extraordinary fishing expedition where \u201cactivities\u201d are undefined (even in the online\u00a0USCIS glossary<\/a>), leaving registrants to worry about what to report, what not to report, and the consequence of omissions. It is also an open invitation to volunteer a broad range of activities where answers may or may not provide evidence of criminal behavior \u2013 a clear violation of the applicant\u2019s 5th<\/sup>\u00a0amendment rights.<\/p>\n

Q. 15: In what activities do you intend to engage between now and your expected date of departure?\u00a0Even more disturbing, this search for unverifiable notions about behavior an applicant may be considering is a further invitation to provide personal information the government might eventually use against you.<\/p>\n

Section 3: Question 1\u00a0Asks about arrests, citations, and detentions\u2014not about criminal convictions. Despite an opportunity for an explanation, the registrant may not know the reason, and explanations about arbitrary and\/or mistaken detentions may not be accepted.<\/p>\n

Q. 18-35: Questions about Parents and Spouse\u00a0The registrant is asked to provide key facts about some family members who may have decided not to register. This facilitates ICE or CBP targeting not only households where no one is documented but, also, the millions of mixed-status households that include US citizens. This is a first step toward invading U.S. citizens\u2019 privacy.<\/p>\n

Just as troubling, the registration requirement does not simply target immigrants who lack legal status. It targets many who are now lawfully present but may soon find themselves at risk when visas are arbitrarily revoked, as is now being contemplated for foreign-born Harvard students, some recipients of humanitarian parole, TPS beneficiaries, and others.<\/p>\n

One contradiction in the regulations is particularly disturbing. It is unclear whether a non-citizen may have met the registration requirement by submitting an official application \u2014 a request for an Employment Authorization Document, for example, which is considered a \u201cregistration\u201d document\u00a0\u2014 or do they need to wait until they receive the requested document, a process that is often unaccountably delayed and out of their control?<\/p>\n

A\u00a0recent analysis<\/a>\u00a0by the Immigrant Legal Resource Center shows the government is, itself, confused about this.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the registration requirement has ushered in more anti-immigrant rhetoric.<\/p>\n

The official preamble justifying the registration requirement accuses migrants of posing \u201csignificant threats to national security and public safety,\u201d of \u201ccommitting vile and heinous acts against innocent Americans,\u201d and that \u201ctheir presence in the United States has cost taxpayers billions of dollars.\u201d<\/p>\n

Study<\/a>\u00a0after\u00a0<\/a>study<\/a>\u00a0after\u00a0<\/a>study<\/a>\u00a0has in fact demonstrated that migrants commit fewer crimes than their American-born counterparts and that immigrants \u2014 undocumented or otherwise \u2014\u00a0<\/a>contribute billions<\/a>\u00a0in taxes to U.S. coffers.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, the saber-rattling concludes with a final threat and effort to eliminate due process for immigrants, asserting that those who fail to comply will not have any legal recourse to defend themselves.<\/p>\n

Those targeted are understandably confused. Should non-citizens comply or risk being charged with noncompliance as they wait to see what happens as lawsuits challenging the regulations make their way through the courts.<\/p>\n

There are also concerns over whether the information shared with USCIS could be used by the administration to target political enemies \u2014 as happened with the Tufts university student, R\u00fcmeysa \u00d6zt\u00fcrk, arrested in March by ICE for publishing an article in a school newspaper critical of Israel\u2019s war in Gaza. (\u00d6zt\u00fcrk was freed earlier this month after a federal court judge ordered her release.)<\/p>\n

Immigrant advocacy groups are working to offer guidance.\u00a0<\/a>The National Immigration Law Center\u00a0has explained<\/a>\u00a0that registration is extremely dangerous for most undocumented immigrants. The\u00a0<\/a>Immigrant Legal Resource Center has developed an\u00a0excellent practice advisory<\/a>\u00a0for immigration lawyers detailing how non-citizens\u2019 decisions about compliance may be risky even for many lawful permanent residents.<\/p>\n

Similar official communication \u2014 even when arbitrary and untested legally \u2014 has often opened the door for authoritarian regimes to secure unbridled levels of power.<\/p>\n

In that regard the Alien Registration Requirement marks an ominous step toward an authoritarian invasion of all Americans\u2019 privacy, one that would make it easier for Trump or future administrations to target political enemies and their families: judges who rule against them, scientists who speak up for the value of sound research, lawyers who sue the government, non-profits that pursue \u201cwoke\u201d agendas.<\/p>\n

Outspoken opposition to the national registry of non-citizens will be a valuable investment in protecting the constitutional rights and rule of law that the Trump administration consistently ignores.<\/p>\n

Conversely, the consequence of allowing the registry to go forward will not be to protect the United States from invasion by \u201caliens\u201d but, rather, to invade the privacy of all Americans without any legitimate rationale.<\/p>\n

Edward Kissam is a leading researcher and advocate for strategies to deal with health issues impacting immigrant communities. He has led research on farmworker and immigrant issues sponsored by the Department of Labor, the Commission on Agricultural Workers, and the National Institute for Food and Agriculture. He is also a trustee of the WKF Charitable Giving Fund.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ByEdward Kissam May 28, 2025 New...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-73171","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ca-local"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73171","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=73171"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73171\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":73172,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73171\/revisions\/73172"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=73171"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=73171"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=73171"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}