Home Consumer Migrants Criminally Charged After Failing To Register With U.S. Government

Migrants Criminally Charged After Failing To Register With U.S. Government

Jun 1, 2025

immigration — Border Patrol agent Sarah Marines takes the fingerprints of a migrant at the Paso del Norte port of entry in El Paso on June 30, 2023. (Danielle Villasana /For The Washington Post)

By Jeremy Roebuck and Marianne LeVine

The Justice Department is wielding a little-known law to criminally charge unauthorized immigrants who have failed to register their presence in the country, threatening them with potential jail time and fines under a new Trump administration initiative.

The first prosecutions came just days after authorities on April 11 resurrected a federal registration requirement, used during World War II, to meet the goals of an executive order from President Donald Trump. Administration officials described the regulation, which mandates that people 14 and older provide fingerprints and home addresses, as a national security precaution that will allow authorities to more closely track the whereabouts of millions of immigrants in the United States.

But the Justice Department’s early attempts to win convictions against those who fail to register have faced skepticism and defeats before some federal judges. And the initiative has been met with sharp opposition from immigrant advocates, who warn that registering with the government could expose migrants to a greater risk of deportation.

Since April 11, when the Department of Homeland Security established a new immigrant registration form, prosecutors have used a statute created in 1940 to charge dozens of people across the country with failing to sign up — a misdemeanor offense punishable by up to six months in prison and $5,000 in fines.

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