Farhad Sethna 2025
This article evaluates some of the changes to US immigration policy and execution as announced by Pres. Trump on January 20, 2025, in his executive order titled “Protecting the American People Against Invasion”.
A detailed analysis of this executive action, as well as other executive actions, can be found on highly respected websites such as the American Immigration Counsel (https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/), and the National Immigration Law Center (https://www.nilc.org/).
I recommend that you read not just my blog, but the sites linked above to get a full flavor of the scope and effect of President Trump’s new slew of executive orders.
The “Protecting the American People Against Invasion” is a broad and sweeping executive action which announces basically that it is the “policy of the United States to achieve the total and efficient enforcement (of the immigration laws) including through lawful incentives and detention capabilities”.
To achieve such “total and efficient enforcement”, the president has ordered as follows:
- First, the revocation of several prior pro-immigrant executive actions announced by President Biden
- Instruction to all executive departments and agencies to take action to revoke any policies that Biden’s memoranda or other instructions that were based on President Biden’s (now revoked) policies
- Instruction to the DHS (Department of Homeland Security) to ensure the successful enforcement of final orders of removal, and to ensure that the homeland security investigations (HSI) be tasked to enforce the immigration and nationality act, specifically to enforce federal laws related to the illegal entry and unlawful presence of aliens in the United States.
Additionally, the Attorney General is asked to prioritize the prosecution of criminal offenses related to unauthorized entry or continued unauthorized presence of aliens in the United States.
Please note, nowhere in the preceding paragraphs of the Executive Order, nor in subsequent paragraphs, is there any prioritization of aliens convicted of criminal offenses in the United States. The executive orders simply tasks DHS to apprehend and prosecute all aliens who have either made an unauthorized entry or continue to remain in unauthorized status in the United States. This flies in the face of President Trump’s often vehement claims at his election rallies about going after criminals who have hurt Americans.
Additionally, the order requires the Attorney General and the Secretary of Homeland Security to establish homeland security taskforces (HSTFs) in all states nationwide. The objective of such HSTFs is to end the presence of criminal cartels from foreign gangs, and transnational criminal organizations throughout the USA.
Registration of aliens
Section 7 of the Executive Order requires that aliens immediately register, pursuant to instructions of the Secretary of DHS in coordination with the Secretary of State and the US Attorney General. Registration is required of all aliens, especially those who have been previously unregistered. This would mean that aliens who are in the USA legally, have already been inspected and admitted, and/or are in removal proceedings already would probably not need to comply with this requirement.
By criminalizing this rarely used section of the immigration act, President Trump is trying to incite fear and panic into the hearts of immigrant communities. Specifically, the registration provision of the immigration act states as follows:
§1302. Registration of aliens
(a) It shall be the duty of every alien now or hereafter in the United States, who (1) is fourteen years of age or older, (2) has not been registered and fingerprinted under section 1201(b) of this title or section 30 or 31 of the Alien Registration Act, 1940, and (3) remains in the United States for thirty days or longer, to apply for registration and to be fingerprinted before the expiration of such thirty days.
(b) It shall be the duty of every parent or legal guardian of any alien now or hereafter in the United States, who (1) is less than fourteen years of age, (2) has not been registered under section 1201(b) of this title or section 30 or 31 of the Alien Registration Act, 1940, and (3) remains in the United States for thirty days or longer, to apply for the registration of such alien before the expiration of such thirty days. Whenever any alien attains his fourteenth birthday in the United States he shall, within thirty days thereafter, apply in person for registration and to be fingerprinted.
(c) The Attorney General may, in his discretion and on the basis of reciprocity pursuant to such regulations as he may prescribe, waive the requirement of fingerprinting specified in subsections (a) and (b) in the case of any nonimmigrant.
(June 27, 1952, ch. 477, title II, ch. 7, §262, 66 Stat. 224 ; Pub. L. 99–653, §9, Nov. 14, 1986, 100 Stat. 3657 ; Pub. L. 100–525, §8(h), Oct. 24, 1988, 102 Stat. 2617 ; Pub. L. 103–416, title II, §219(n), Oct. 25, 1994, 108 Stat. 4317 .)
As you can see therefore, the requirement which is in the immigration law, but has never been followed, because naturally, an undocumented alien is not going to go and register with the USINS (prior to 2002) or DHS (after 2002). Please note – up to this point, DHS has not set up processes for the millions of undocumented aliens in the USA to register.
Fines and penalties against people who “facilitate” an alien’s presence in the United States
Once again, President Trump is seeking to frighten individuals or organizations in the United States which may try to help aliens in the US. The wording of the executive order is vague on purpose – it states that “the Secretary of Homeland Security, in coordination with the Secretary of the Treasury, shall take all appropriate action to ensure the assessment and collection of all fines and penalties that the Secretary of Homeland Security is authorized by law to assess and collect from aliens unlawfully present in the United States, including aliens who unlawfully entered or unlawfully attempted to enter the United States, and from those who facilitate such alien’s presence in the United States”.
It is highly unlikely that an alien who is here under the color of law, is proceeding through immigration court processes, who is appealing his or her deportation decision, would incur such a fine. Such a fine is levied only upon individuals who do not depart the United States after the issuance of a final order of deportation, which is one that is been issued by a court and from which no appeal has been taken or any appeal has been finally denied.
Again, as stated above, this is a ploy by the Trump administration to frighten US citizens or organizations from providing aid to aliens in removal proceedings.
I have posted an article exploring this issue on my blog: https://www.immigration-america.com/can-the-us-government-arrest-me-for-helping-an-alien
Expedited removal
The Secretary of Homeland Security is tasked with expansion of the current expedited removal process to the expedited removal of any alien encountered anywhere in the United States within two years of entry who lacks the necessary immigration status to remain legally in the United States. This is an expansion of the expedited removal jurisdiction from only 100 miles from any border to now, the entire geographical United States, and the minimum physical presence from 14 days to two years! Both time and geographic expansions are very significant!
An alien who has been here for longer than two years is encouraged to carry documentation proving his 2+ years stay in the United States in order to avoid being placed in expedited removal and summarily ejected from the United States.
Expansion of 287(g) and consequently, detention facilities
The Trump administration has brought back and indeed encourages the use of INA 287(g) agreements, which would allow the federal government to partner with local state law enforcement agencies including County Sheriffs, city police departments, etc., to effectuate the immigration laws. Under this agreement, the employees of such political subdivisions would be trained and deputized by DHS to act as immigration agents. This includes the right to stop and inquire of the immigration status of any person they encounter. This is an open invitation to “racial profiling” and abuse of authority.
Penalties for noncompliance
Aliens who are unauthorized in the United States are encouraged to leave in an orderly fashion as quickly as possible through voluntary departure. Countries which do not assist in the removal or repatriation of their citizens through failure to include travel documents, failure to process identity requests promptly, or other diplomatic or procedural hurdles shall be penalized in a fashion that is not specified in the executive order. Most recently, Trump threatened Colombia with higher tariffs and sanctions against senior government officials of Colombia if Colombia refused to accept its citizens deported from the USA. Colombia accepted all of Trump’ s demands.
Parole authority
Parole authority is revoked. Parole may be granted only on a case-by-case basis for urgent humanitarian reasons or a significant public benefit. Blanket parole, as was issued to Ukrainians and Cubans will not be permitted anymore.
Temporary protected status
The Executive Order terminates temporary protected status and requires that such designations are limited in scope and made only for so long as may be necessary to fulfill the “textual requirements of the statutes”.
However, Trump has not yet directly revoked the TPS that the Biden administration previously granted to nationals of several countries. Trump has also stated that individuals who are on TPS may be arrested, detained, and deported by the Department of Homeland Security. This obviously sets up court battles as Trump’s authority in this regard will be questioned.
Employment authorization
Trump attempts to squelch the ability of aliens to remain in the United States through legal employment, working legally, specifically by restricting grants of employment authorization. However, it is not clear how this restriction will be effected, given that the law provides specifically for employment authorization, especially for aliens who are here in TPS, parole, or asylum proceedings.
Penalty for “sanctuary” jurisdiction
Sanctuary jurisdictions will not receive access to federal funds.
Denial of public benefits to illegal aliens
The director of the Office of Management and Budget is directed to ensure that agencies “identify and stop the provision of any public benefits to any illegal alien not authorized to receive them under the provisions of the INA or other relevant statutory provisions”.
Conclusion
This is not the only executive action which President Trump issued targeting immigrants. Numerous other executive orders were issued in the first week of the Trump presidency. An excellent resource tracking the various executive orders can be found at the Immigration Policy Tracking Project (https://immpolicytracking.org/), which provides very prompt updates on Trump 2.0 immigration policies.
None of these executive actions are to be taken lightly. Trump wields enormous power, given that Republicans now control both houses of the U.S. Congress, and with the presidency, the executive branch. The 6:3 margin on the Supreme Court also ensures that most facially rational immigration policies of the Trump administration will probably be found legal by a majority of the justices.
Times appear to be hard for most immigrants, and especially for those who are undocumented, or in the United States under some form of temporary protection. However, many resources exist, especially through agencies which do not receive federal funding, and therefore are not beholden to Trump’s policies. Please refer to my website, https://saveimmigrantfamiliesusa.com/, for further details, a very helpful self-evaluation immigration questionnaire in English and Spanish, and other valuable documentation such as powers of attorney and “Know Your Rights” flyers.
For non-citizens, it is important to take action to protect yourself and your family. It is important to seek out assistance in your local communities to help yourself and your family
Non-citizens, remember, you are not alone. But you have to take action. Do not bury your heads in the sand until it is too late. File applications now, while you can, to ensure that you have the legal basis to remain in the USA while those applications are adjudicated.
For further details, stay tuned!
© Farhad Sethna, Attorney, 2025
Farhad Sethna has practiced law for over 30 years. He was awarded his JD in 1990 and his MBA in 1991, both from the University of Akron. Since 1996, he has also been an adjunct professor of Immigration Law at the University of Akron, School of Law, in Akron, Ohio, where he wrote and continues to use his own immigration textbook. Attorney Sethna is a frequent speaker at Continuing Legal Education and professional development seminars on various immigration-related topics. His practice is limited to immigration and small business. He has won awards for excellence in teaching and for pro-bono service. With offices in Cuyahoga Falls, Akron and New Philadelphia, Ohio, Attorney Sethna represents clients in all types of immigration cases before federal agencies and the immigration courts nationwide. A private pilot, it is Farhad’s goal to fly to each of Ohio’s 88 county airports. Our number is: (330) 384-8000. Please send your general immigration questions to farhad@sethnalaw.com. We will try to answer as many questions as possible.