Exclusive: Government doesn't know if any illegal aliens registered for draft, as they are required to do, during Biden surge

The Oversight Project sent a Freedom of Information request earlier this year to the U.S. Selective Service System seeking data on illegal aliens who failed to register for the draft.

Now with the responses in, it appears that the watchdog group's hypothesis — both that the SSS during former President Joe Biden's tenure made little effort to ensure that male illegal aliens ages 18-26 were registered for the draft, as required by law, and that multitudes of military-age male illegal aliens likely slipped through the cracks as a result — was right on the money.

Mike Howell, president of the Oversight Project, told Blaze News, "The fact that the Biden administration purposefully ignored having the biggest invasion of military-age males in American history fulfill their legal obligations is a massive scandal."

Background

Immigrant men ages 18-25 must register for the draft within 30 days of arriving in the country. According to the SSS, this includes parolees, illegal aliens, legal permanent residents, asylum-seekers, refugees, and all men with visas of any kind that expired more than 30 days ago. Those on current non-immigrant visas are exempt so long as their visas remain valid until they turn 26.

The Oversight Project filed a FOIA request in late January for documents pertaining to whether inadmissible and deportable aliens have been registering for the Selective Service.

The request noted that the SSS stated on its website that it does "not now, or in the past, collect or share any information which would indicate a man's immigration status, either documented or undocumented"; that it lacked the "authority to collect such information"; and that it had no use for such information "irrelevant to the registration requirement."

'Your agency would have seen unprecedented increases in registrations over the Biden administration.'

The Oversight Project appeared eager to square the agency's apparent refusal to collect data on multitudes of draft-eligible men on account of their undocumented status with the SSS' assertion that it plays a critical role in ensuring American readiness in a time of crisis and how "high registration rates across the nation serve as the foundation of fairness and equity for full operations."

The watchdog group also appeared interested in determining whether the SSS witnessed a spike in registrations during the unprecedented flood of illegal aliens into the United States during the Biden administration, noting that SSS data provided to Congress showed the agency received over 23,000 registrations in 2023 from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services but alternatively provided no data for entities that handle illegal immigration.

"If male inadmissible aliens between 18 and 26 were registering for the Selective Service, which is usually their duty under law, then your agency would have seen unprecedented increases in registrations over the Biden administration," said the FOIA request. "The absence of such a surge indicates that there is widespread criminal noncompliance by such aliens."

FOIA answered

The SSS informed the Oversight Project that it has no records for the period beginning Jan. 20, 2021, and ending March 20, 2025, sufficient to show how many:

• draft-eligible inadmissible aliens either registered or failed to register for the draft;
• draft-eligible males entered the country and either registered or failed to register for the draft;
• aliens who entered the U.S. as unaccompanied alien children that have since registered or failed to register for the draft;
• asylum applicants have registered or failed to register for the draft;
• aliens with final orders of removal have registered or failed to register for the draft; and
• draft-eligible males who registered or failed to register for the draft have also received or have applications pending for immigration parole, Temporary Protected Status, deferred enforcement departure, or Deferred Action on Childhood Arrival.

The SSS revealed further that it had no registration records from U.S. Customs and Border Protection, which does not register immigrants but provides non-immigrant visa information regarding ineligible men living in the country on temporary visa status.

'Luckily, this provides an opening for the Trump administration.'

The agency also noted that it receives printed copies of completed registration records for immigrants legally entering the country via U.S. Citizenship and Immigrant Service — but that this information is entered into the Selective Service database without indications of whether the registrant is a legal immigrant or whether the records were provided by USCIS.

Relevance

The information concerning male illegal aliens' registration or failure to do so — which appears presently out of reach — is relevant for a number of reasons.

First, a knowing and purposeful failure to register on the part of an illegal alien is a felony offense under the Military Selective Service Act of 1917 and a deportable offense under the McCarran-Walter Act of 1952.

The Congressional Research Service indicated that the Department of Justice rarely pursues felony cases against those who fail to register for the draft — there were no criminal prosecutions between January 1986 and 2021. A failure to prosecute in decades past does not, however, mean that the Trump administration cannot start anew.

"Luckily, this provides an opening for the Trump administration, which is focused on removing criminal illegal aliens as a priority," Howell told Blaze News. "Now they can turn every military-age male illegal into a criminal overnight, drawing in way more government resources to support mass deportations."

Blaze News reached out to the DOJ for comment about prosecuting such offenses but did not receive a response by deadline.

Second, where relevance is concerned: Male illegal aliens who fail to register can be precluded from obtaining U.S. citizenship and are ineligible for certain federal and state employment opportunities and education benefits.

Third, the absence of an increase in registrations amid the unlawful deluge of military-age men into the U.S. during the Biden administration could serve as an indictment of elements of the previous government.

Fourth, American men might be interested to know in the event of a war necessitating the draft how many military-age foreign nationals have or have not registered to join them in risking all abroad to protect the United States and the vulnerable citizens who remain behind. Eligible citizens, like the SSS, might also have an interest in "fairness and equity" and like to know whether illegal aliens are willing to sacrifice for the nation into which they have stolen.

Willful blindness

Documents obtained by the Oversight Project revealed both an awareness behind the scenes that the SSS was failing to capture information on potential illegal alien registrants and an interest in omitting the requirement that illegal aliens register for the draft.

Craig Brown, who stepped into the role of acting director of the SSS in January 2021, appeared to confirm that the agency was consciously missing a big piece of the puzzle, noting in an April 28, 2023, email that "undocumented immigrants are by definition not giving data. We get info on every male trying to legit stay in the country."

'President Trump should fire Biden holdover Craig Brown.'

In a December 2022 email chain between Selective Service employees concerning the estimated cost of a legislative proposal that would automatically register all eligible men on their 18th birthdays, an employee then working as deputy general counsel, legislative affairs, noted, "We may want to consider omitting the requirement that undocumented immigrants register."

"President Trump should fire Biden holdover Craig Brown," said Howell. "It looks like he purposefully failed to realize that the biggest invasion of military-age males meant he should probably get them registered for the draft. That is his job, after all."

A Selective Service spokesman did not respond to a question about Brown's email but said in response to the Oversight Project's broader critique, "U.S. citizens and immigrants residing in the United States (except for those on non-immigrant visas) are required to register with the Selective Service System within 30 days of their 18th birthday. The law permits men to register up until they turn age 26."

"The agency works to raise awareness of the legal requirement to register with all men within this age range," added the spokesman.

The spokesman told Blaze News that the agency "would not speculate on outcomes" when asked whether U.S. District Court Judge Trevor Neil McFadden's ruling earlier this month enabling the Trump administration to proceed with its requirement that everyone in the country illegally must register with the federal government might result in an increase in Selective Service registrations.

The Oversight Project made clear in its FOIA request why continued apathy on this matter is unacceptable, noting:

Failure to register for Selective Service is a felony, and thus the pool of potential criminal illegal aliens is much larger than believed. Moreover, an illegal alien's failure to register for Selective Service reflects that they are not coming to America for a better life with a desire to contribute to society. At the end of the day, they seek to illegally obtain the freedoms offered by America while at the very same time violating their legal duty to defend the country. Every illegal alien who submits an absurd asylum claim, is "paroled," or "gets away" after illegal[ly] crossing the border quite literally seeks to avail themselves of American freedoms on the backs of everyday Americans who complied with their Selective Service registration requirements and if it becomes necessary would defend those freedoms with their lives.

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