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Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem announced the enforcement of a longstanding piece of legislation that seeks to encourage illegal migrants in the United States to register with the federal government — something she says was ignored for decades.
Noem said the Trump administration would implement the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 (INA) and could impose criminal and financial penalties on those who choose not to leave the United States, register, get fingerprinted or update their address with the federal government.
A description of the INA on the DHS’ website states the act requires illegal migrants 14 years or older in the country to register with the federal government and be fingerprinted within 30 days of being in the country illegally.
DHS seal next to the letters ICE, which stands for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (PAUL J. RICHARDS/AFP via Getty Images)
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"If they don't register, they're breaking the federal law, which has always been in place," Noem said Tuesday on "Jesse Watters Primetime." "We're just going to start enforcing it to make sure that these aliens go back home, and when they want to be an American, then they can come and visit us again."
The former South Dakota governor said the registry is part of a tool her agency has to "do exactly what President Trump promised the American people."
Noem called on those in the country illegally to self-register on a government website so they can avoid criminal charges and fines.
Migrants who crossed the Rio Grande and entered the U.S. from Mexico are lined up for processing by U.S. Customs and Border Protection on Saturday, Sept. 23, 2023, in Eagle Pass, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)
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"It's safer for our communities. It saves us taxpayer dollars, and it allows them an opportunity to come back to this country and to be an American and to live the American dream, which is truly what our history is all about," she said about illegal migrants self-deporting.
The announcement comes over a week after DHS released a video campaign encouraging illegal migrants to leave the country or face deportation with the inability to return to the United States.
Hundreds of migrants, predominantly from Venezuela, cross the Rio Grande with the intention of seeking humanitarian asylum by crossing the border between Mexico and the United States in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico on December 05, 2023. (David Peinado/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Cris Ramón, a senior immigration adviser for UnidosUS, a civil rights organization, told the Los Angeles Times the registry "creates additional confusion for undocumented individuals, increasing the fear that’s gripped them and their families since late January."
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Noem told Fox News host Jesse Watters that people who voluntarily leave have a chance to come back to the country, but in a legal way.
Ashley Carnahan is a writer at Fox News Digital.
