Trump’s Pipeline to Mass Disappearances

Washington, D.C. – The Trump administration has announced enforcement of a mandatory registry based on a half-a-century-old law–forcing undocumented immigrants to provide their personal details to authorities that seek to jail and deport them. Non-compliance could result in steep fines or jail time. This policy revives failed post-9/11 initiatives that disproportionately targeted Muslim, Arab, and South Asian communities under the guise of national security.

The National Security Entry-Exit Registration System (NSEERS), implemented after 9/11, subjected tens of thousands of immigrants to surveillance, leading to zero terrorism convictions but over 14,000 individuals placed in deportation proceedings. This discriminatory program was ultimately dismantled, but Trump’s latest registry threatens to bring back its fear-driven, ineffective approach on an even larger scale.

As Trump moves full speed ahead on his $350 billion mass deportation plan, this registry lays the groundwork for extreme immigration enforcement, targeting workers, families, and long-settled community members.

Statement from Beatriz Lopez, Co-Executive Director of the Immigration Hub:

“This registry is a chilling echo of the darkest chapters in world history. We have seen what happens when governments create lists of vulnerable communities—not to protect, but to track, detain, and disappear. This is not about public safety. It is not about security. It is mass surveillance with one purpose: to fuel Trump’s deportation machine at any cost. If history has taught us anything, it’s that registries like this are not just ineffective and undemocratic—they are grotesquely inhumane. They serve only to spread fear, destabilize families, and create a permanent target on people’s backs. 

If Trump actually cared about a functioning immigration system and a stronger economy, he would expand legal pathways and allow those who have lived and worked here for years to keep contributing. Instead, he continues to slow walk America into an autocracy, wherein our government is being weaponized against families. Law enforcement officials have already warned that his mass deportation quotas will divert resources from real threats—but that was never the point. This is a fast track to removals, to disappearances, to a country unrecognizable from the values it claims to stand for. Our lawmakers must take a stand now or risk being complicit in a humanitarian crisis unfolding before our eyes.”

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The Immigration Hub is a national organization dedicated to advancing fair and just immigration policies through strategic leadership, innovative communications strategies, legislative advocacy and collaborative partnerships.