PHOENIX (AP) 鈥� The Trump administration's plan to strictly require anyone illegally in the U.S. to register with the government and carry documentation is stirring up fears of heightened racial profiling even among legal residents, immigrants' rights advocates say.
For some, it's a return to a climate from the recent past in which police departments and other law enforcement agencies' insistence on documentation drove immigrants underground and increased public safety concerns.
鈥淚t happens already to an extent. ... I think this would make it even worse because how would you know somebody is undocumented?鈥� said Jose Pati帽o, vice president of education and external affairs for Aliento, an Arizona-based advocacy organization that supports immigrants without documents. 鈥淚t creates ambiguity of how you鈥檙e going to enforce and identify people who are not in the country (legally)."
A federal judge earlier this month in a lawsuit brought by immigrants' rights groups over the policy and the mandate took effect April 11. Trump officials say they are simply enforcing a requirement that has been law for decades.
鈥淭he Trump administration will enforce all our immigration laws 鈥� we will not pick and choose which laws we will enforce," U.S. Homeland Secretary Kristi Noem said in the statement after the ruling. "We must know who is in our country for the safety and security of our homeland and all Americans.鈥�
Under federal law, everyone 14 and older without legal status must self-register and give fingerprints and an address. Parents and guardians of anyone younger must ensure they are registered. Not doing so is considered a crime and a lack of documents risks prison time and fines.
Complications and confusion about enforcement
The mandate has rarely been enforced under previous administrations. To complicate matters, there have been recent instances of authorities detaining as confusion also sweeps through other federal and state immigration policies.
An used by temporary residents has sent work permit cancellations since late March, including to U.S. citizens. A growing number of Republican-led states also are specially issued for immigrants without documents.
Guerline Jozef, executive director of the nonprofit Haitian Bridge Alliance, says racial profiling already happens at a disproportionate rate to Black migrants. The sudden pivot has aggravated things and people with Temporary Protected Status or who had regular Immigration and Customs Enforcement check-ins have been detained during travel, she said.
She decried the whole ordeal as a form of 鈥減sychological warfare." Migrants who were allowed temporary legal residence are not sure if they need to protectively carry documents at all times.
鈥淚t is very hard to even communicate with the community members on what to do, telling them they need to know their rights, but they trample on their rights anyway,鈥� Jozef said. 鈥淲e are back in the 鈥榮how me your papers鈥� era.鈥�
鈥楽how me your papers鈥�
The new mandate evokes previous instances of certain groups having to carry documentation. During the time of enslavement in the U.S., freed Black people had to have 鈥渇reedom papers鈥� or risk being re-enslaved. During World War II, Japanese Americans were required to register and keep identification cards but were put in incarceration camps.
鈥淭he statutes that are on the books about registration have been dormant" for 85 years, said Lynn Marcus, director of immigration law clinics at the University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law. 鈥淭here weren't forms to comply with this requirement. It was created in wartime originally.鈥�
The renewed strict registration requirement forces U.S. citizens to carry birth certificates or other proof of citizenship at all times, 鈥渆specially if they have a 鈥榝oreign appearance,'" Marcus said.
People who are valid residents or visa holders could potentially be profiled based on factors other than physical characteristics.
鈥淟et's say law enforcement encounters someone in another circumstance 鈥� maybe they're reporting a crime,鈥� Marcus said. 鈥淭hey might not be satisfied with answers if they aren't able to communicate because not all U.S. citizens speak fluent English.鈥�
Impacts on immigrants' well-being
Eileen Diaz McConnell, a professor at Arizona State University's School of Transborder Studies, pointed to the effects of a 2010 Arizona law requiring all immigrants to obtain or carry immigration registration papers.
In 2012, the Justice Department sued the state over the law and the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the papers requirement, but those two years when the requirement was in place were a traumatic time for Latino families in the state, McConnell said.
鈥淧arents wouldn鈥檛 ride together in a car. They were always separated because they were worried they would be stopped,鈥� Diaz McConnell said. 鈥淧eople don鈥檛 leave their house.鈥�
She has done extensive research on how immigration policies can impact the mental health of mixed households of family members who are American-born and don't have documents.
鈥淚n previous years, children report, even if they鈥檙e U.S.-born, real harm 鈥� impacts on their own sleep, worry, not eating, depression,鈥� Diaz McConnell said. 鈥淭here will be people who will say things like, 鈥榃ell, if you鈥檙e not undocumented, what do you have to worry about?鈥�"
Pati帽o, whose undocumented parents brought him to the U.S. when he was 6, is accustomed to keeping papers as a recipient. He knows others without special status are now panicked. The single mother of one of his U.S.-born former interns has stopped going to the grocery store, church and other places since she lacks documents.
鈥淚t鈥檚 like she鈥檚 afraid of her shadow or, like, even to go out and throw out the trash,鈥� he said.
People who crossed the border without documents are especially unsure whether to register in the wake of international students and others being detained or deported even though they had visas or pending court hearings.
鈥淵ou鈥檙e asking people to come out of the shadows and enroll us in a system that most of them probably have not heard of,鈥� Pati帽o said. 鈥淚t seems the administration is trying to go catch-22 with folks. You are in trouble if you do, you鈥檙e in trouble if you don鈥檛.鈥�
Terry Tang, The Associated Press
