WASHINGTON—The Trump Administration has upgraded our nation’s alien registration system by instituting an online form that aliens—including illegal aliens—may use to meet their legal obligation to register with the government. In support of this new system, the Immigration Reform Law Institute (IRLI) has filed a brief in the DC Circuit Court of Appeals opposing an effort by a group of illegal aliens and anti-borders organizations to obtain an injunction against the online form. These plaintiffs claim the new system will harm them by making it easier for the government to track and deport illegal aliens.
In its brief, IRLI shows that the harms plaintiffs allege do not outweigh the overwhelming public interest, which the new online form serves, in more effective and efficient immigration law enforcement. Indeed, the deportation of illegal aliens cannot even be recognized by a court of law as an injury to those deported, because it results from their own illegal activity. IRLI also shows that illegal aliens arrested because of the form will not be able to show selective enforcement based on any First Amendment-protected speech they may have engaged in.
“It is understandable that illegal aliens and anti-borders activist organizations don’t like mandatory alien registration, and like the new online system even less,” said Dale L. Wilcox, executive director and general counsel of IRLI. “If illegal aliens obey the law and register, they are very likely to be deported. But it is beyond obvious that law-breakers cannot claim they are injured by more effective law enforcement. We hope the court sees that plaintiffs’ legal claims have zero merit, and denies the injunction.”
The case is Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights v. DHS, No. 25-cv-5152 (D.C. Circuit).
