A reprieve for snowbirds? Trump administration sued over traveller registration requirement
Immigration supporters are sung to the Trump administration for its next registration requirements for non -US citizens who remain more than 29 days, offering a possible suspension for Canadian snowbirds.
The American Immigration Council and the United States partner organizations launched the cause this week to try to cancel the registration rule. They argue that the administration has not sought public inputs on a poorly conceived directive by millions of people.
Tuesday, the defense groups will ask the District Court for the Columbia district to impose a preliminary injunction that blocks the registration requirement before the launch of 11 April.
“We firmly believe that this rule has been issued in an improper and illegal way,” said Michelle Lapaine, the legal director of the American Immigration Council. “What they are launching is an arbitrary, confused system, makes no sense.”
In January, the President of the United States Trump issued a Executive order called “protect the American people from invasion”. Starting from 11 April, it requires that some foreign citizens remain 30 days or more, including many Canadians who cross on the ground, recorded online with the United States government.
The registration form asks for travelers for a long list of personal details, such as the US address and where parents were born. The non -Canadians will also have to present the fingerprints.
The immigration defense groups join for many Canadian snowbirds who have raised concerns since they learned the recording rule last month.
“I feel as if we were aimed at as Canadians,” said Rena Hans of Toronto, who has a condominium in Florida. “This is giving me a little, a little totalitarian atmosphere.”
Stephen Fine, president of the Snowbird Advisor company, who manages a resource website, claims to have received hundreds of E -mail from Snowbirds who ask questions about the registration requirement.
“There is a lot of anxiety and a lot of confusion.”
The purpose says that a main problem is that the end printing of the rule can be difficult to decipher.
“The regulations came out quickly. There is still not much clarity on how the process completes, who is required to complete the process.”
He says that if the cause manages to cancel the regulations, news would be welcome for the Snowbirds.
$ 5,000 fine or imprisonment
Part of the confusion derives from the fact that not all foreigners remain a month or more must register. The Canadians have issued an electronic arrival/departure record when the United States will be exempt. According to the lawyers of immigration, CBC News has generally consulted, international air passengers are released these documents and land travelers are not.
To discover their state, travelers must enter their online travel information through an immigration website of the United States Upon arrival.
Those requested for registration must always carry a test of registration or face fines up to $ 5,000 or imprisonment for a maximum of six months or both.
Lapaine states that, since the rules are complex, people could unconsciously break them and find themselves in trouble.
“They could be collected, arrested, detained, fined.”
Snowbirds claim to be insulted on the fact that the Trump administration will begin to enforce an existing law for the Canadians who requires anyone who crosses a terrestrial border that stays more than 30 days to register with the US immigration authorities.
Snowbirds David and Dianne Fine (no relationship with Stephen Fine) say that they intend to return home to Hepworth, Ontario, before the expiry of April 11 to avoid problems.
The couple, who is unleashing in a camper park in Brownsville, in Texas, completed the online registration form at the end of March. However, they still have to receive official tests of their registration that can print and show if necessary.
“If we do not have the right documentation and capture us before April 11, I imagine that we go to prison or face a fine of $ 5,000, or both,” he said, offering a worst scenario.
The immigration lawyer of the United States Rosanna Berardi told the CBC News that he does not believe that the Canadians will have to face these repercussions.
However, he says, following recent news of an intense immigration control under the Trump administration, there is no risks.
“[From] What I am seeing in progress in recent months, we don’t know if there was a clemency, “he said.” This is what we are a little worried about. “
CBC News has contacted citizenship and immigration services of the United States and the National Security Department to clarify whether, on April 11, the waste that currently have a fine – an and -mail that states that the United States government has received the registration completed – is acceptable.
Nor has he answered this application or other questions regarding the clarification of the registration rules.
Furthermore, they did not comment on the cause directly. Instead, both sent an e-mail to the same response as a paragraph that reiterated the new rule and ended by stating that the recording requirement “aligns with the efforts under the Trump administration to improve the safety of the United States”.
Some snowbirds are not sure they will return to us
The cause refers specifically to Canadian snowbirds, suggesting if the requirement discourages them from winter to the United States, it could cause financial damage to the Americans.
“I am an advantage for many communities, in particular in places like Florida,” said Lapaine of the Council for Immigration. “This is a problem that the government should have looked at.”
The fines have not decided if they will return to the United States next winter, citing the recording requirements and related issues, such as Trump’s commercial war.
They hope that the cause is successful so that if they come back, they will have something less to worry about.
“We are happy enough that this can pass and remove all the confusion,” said the end.
