This case challenges the creation of a national registration scheme for non-citizens in the United States. In March 2025, the federal government published an interim final rule requiring all non-citizens to register with the government, submit to fingerprinting, provide sensitive personal data on themselves and their families, and to carry proof of registration at all times upon penalty of prison. In public statements, the government has stated that its intention in creating the scheme is to enhance the efficiency of mass deportation.

The government claims its new registration scheme will enforce the Alien Registration Act, a 1940 wartime law that sought to create an inventory of non-citizens through registration at post offices. But that law has never before been used to facilitate mass deportation.

Under the Administrative Procedures Act, the public must be given notice and an opportunity to comment on sweeping changes to law and policy that occur by federal rulemaking—before those changes can be enacted. By publishing the interim final rule shortly before it intended to enact its registration scheme, the government denied the public its fair say.

Why is This a Key Case?

National registration and carry schemes are a favored tactic of totalitarian regimes, from Nazi Germany to apartheid South Africa.

They also have a dark history in the United States. In the ante-bellum period, registration and carry laws limited freedom of movement of people of African descent. In the late 1800s, they were part of racially discriminatory immigration laws against people of Chinese descent. And in the 1940s, they were marshaled to detain people of Japanese descent in wartime internment camps.

In today’s multi-cultural America, a law that gives police the power to stop and question anyone they think doesn’t look “American enough” exposes millions to profiling and police harassment based on their race, the language they speak, or the neighborhood they live in.

What is the status of this case?

Pending trial after the district court denied a motion for a preliminary injunction.

How can I get involved?

Contact your federal representatives to urge them to repeal the Alien Registration Act.

March 31, 2025