Immigration Policy and Legal Experts Take Stock of Latest News and Implications of Another Busy Immigration Week

Washington, DC — At a virtual press event held last week, leading policy and legal experts took stock of the busy week in immigration, analyzing the details and implications of such developments as this administration’s announced plans to force unauthorized immigrants to register with the federal government and a Congressional budget seeking to cut Medicaid and SNAP benefits to fund mass deportations. The event was the latest in the ongoing series from America’s Voice, “Beyond the Immigration Headlines.”

Carlos Guevara, Senior Director of Policy at the Immigration Hub, said: “In recent weeks, we’ve seen a concerted effort to attack newly arrived children by tightening court controls, reducing immigration judges, and imposing burdensome sponsor requirements that make it harder for them to find support. These tactics, reminiscent of Trump’s first administration, are designed to stall the system and deter sponsors from stepping forward. At the same time, House Republicans are advancing a resolution that lays the groundwork for mass deportations and stripping away critical public supports, including healthcare, for these children and their families. The result is a deliberate campaign to leave vulnerable children in fear and legal limbo.”

Nayna Gupta, Policy Director at the American Immigration Council, said: “The Trump administration is reviving a long-dormant immigration law requiring certain non-citizens to register with the federal government and all non-citizens to carry their papers under threat of criminal prosecution. This policy does nothing to fix our broken immigration system or increase public safety. Instead, it will lead to racial profiling–including of U.S. citizens–and make people fearful of police and therefore less likely to report crime. The billions of dollars Trump is proposing to strip from programs like Medicaid to supercharge mass deportation will be wasted on policies like this new mandated registry which unnecessarily criminalize immigrants and harm all Americans.”

David Leopold, former President and General Counsel, American Immigration Lawyers Association, Chair of the immigration practice at UB Greensfelder LLC and America’s Voice legal advisor, said: “This registration is nothing but a hoax, a pretext to impose criminal liability on hardworking people, many of whom were called essential workers during the pandemic, even by Trump himself. As an attorney working in the field every day, I can sum up what I’m seeing in one word: fear, whether it’s over registration, losing benefits, or the broader crackdown. Having lived through Trump’s first term, nothing compares to what’s happening now. Despite Trump’s claims about targeting criminals, the reality is that this is a sweeping attack on immigrants, using crime as a false justification when most individuals with criminal records are already detained under existing laws.”