Profiles in government overreach: Hidden measures in the Trump administration’s executive orders that target the Latino community

The Trump administration started its second term by issuing a slate of executive actions to meet its immigration policy goals. While many of these announcements have garnered attention in the media, there are some potential harms that have not received as much attention in the coverage of these executive actions.

These measures include small provisions that will lead to the profiling of Latinos and undermine legal service providers that provide essential services for non-citizens navigating the U.S. immigration system. Although legal challenges could blunt their collective impact, their long-term damage on Latino populations and other groups would take years to repair.

Measures incentivize the profiling of Latinos by immigration authorities

The administration’s executive actions create the conditions for immigration authorities and other law enforcement agencies deputized for interior enforcement efforts to target Latinos based on the perception they are undocumented, including U.S. citizens.

Executive Action: Securing Our Borders (issued by the White House on January 20, 2025)

This executive action requires law enforcement agents to detain immigrants apprehended on suspicion of violating federal or state law, a policy that harkens back to Arizona’s SB1070, the notorious “show me your papers” law. The law required local law enforcement officers to question individuals based on their purported undocumented legal status for removal.

Although legal settlements between the state’s government and civil rights groups eventually reined in its excesses, it helped generate the racial profiling of Latinos that led to a 2.5% drop in the state’s GDP as workers in key industries sought work in other states due their fears about the law’s implementation.

Executive Action: Protecting the American People Against Invasion (issued by the White House January 20, 2025)

Implementing Documents: Alien Registration Form and Evidence of Registration Interim Final Rule (Issued by DHS on March 12, 2025)

After the administration issued an executive order that included a mandate to establish a registration process for undocumented individuals, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security issued an interim final rule that requires all undocumented immigrants 14 years or older must register with the U.S. government to follow sections of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) that establish these processes for non-citizens who wish to remain in the country.

As a part of this broad requirement, individuals must carry evidence they have registered with DHS. Parents must also register undocumented children who are younger than 14. Although the INA does not impose penalties for failure to register, the rule levies criminal penalties and fines against non-registrants — including parents who did not register their children — and makes non-registration a criminal offense.[1]

These requirements will lead to the profiling of Latinos and the separation of families. Having to provide one’s registration status will lead immigration authorities to detain Latinos based on their appearances even though 81% are U.S. citizens.

The prospect that authorities will imprison U.S. citizens or green card holders who do not register an undocumented child will contribute to the separation of families that will occur as the administration expands its enforcement efforts, imperiling the 19.5 million Latinos who live with an undocumented individual in their homes.

[1] These penalties include a misdemeanor with fine of up to $5000 and/or imprisonment for not more than 30 days on individuals who fail to comply.

Policies that target the funding for civil society organizations that serve immigrants

These measures also target legal service providers and other organizations that assist noncitizens, namely by using the threat of withholding federal funds to undermine their work. Although recent executive actions targeting immigration attorneys who serve noncitizens have received attention, these measures will undermine a network that has successfully served and integrated new Americans for decades.

Executive Actions: Protecting the American People Against Invasion (issued by the White House on January 20, 2025)

Implementing Documents: Memorandum Ending Funding for Legal Services for Representing Individuals at Immigration Court Hearings (issued by DOJ on January 23, 2025); Sanctuary Jurisdiction Directives (issued by DOJ on February 5, 2025); DOJ Memorandum Ending Funding for Legal Representation for Unaccompanied Children (issued by DOJ on March 21, 2025)

The “Protecting the American People” executive action orders all federal agencies to review and audit grants, contracts and agreements that provide federal funding to nongovernmental organizations that provide services to “removable or illegal aliens” for “waste, fraud and abuse, and [so] they do not promote or facilitate violations of our immigration laws” and claw back this funding.

3 measures targeting legal service providers have implemented this component of the executive order:

• A U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) memorandum ended legal orientation programs for noncitizens in removal proceedings before the DOJ’s immigration court system.
• The DOJ’s “Sanctuary Jurisdiction Directive” requires the review of DOJ grants of organizations that serve undocumented individuals and sending this information to the Attorney General for their termination.
• A DOJ memorandum ended a contract for organizations providing legal representation for unaccompanied children in immigration court proceedings.

These measures threaten a network that helps noncitizens navigate the U.S. legal immigration system. These organizations assist individuals secure immigration benefits, including the 9 million green card holders who are eligible for citizenship. They also assist individuals in removal proceedings, including the 44% of unaccompanied children who did not have representation in 2023.

Pulling funding from these organizations would harm these clients and undermine one of the most cost-effective ways to improve the immigration system’s operation.

Protecting Latinos and their communities is the right way forward

Rather than pursuing measures that harm Latino communities, policymakers should adopt policies that strengthen our economy and families. Providing undocumented individuals with a path to citizenship would help retain a core part of its workforce and limit the chances that deportations would separate families.

Funding legal service providers would help tackle backlogs in the immigration court system and help eligible noncitizens access work permits to reach economic self-sufficiency. Although lawsuits against these measures could mitigate these impacts, lawmakers must take these proactive steps to harness the power of the Latino community.