As hostilities in Europe turned into war in September 1939, the United States continued to assert its neutrality while protecting itself from all perceived threats. Though a nation of immigrants, proud of its diversity, American citizens and their representatives in Congress were also worried about foreigners within the United States, some purportedly working as foreign agents, others working in U.S. industry, and others joining the United States military. In this atmosphere, the Alien Registration Act was passed on June 28, 1940.

This Act required the immediate registration of all aliens resident in the United States. Out of a total population of 132 million, 5 million aliens were registered within the four-month window mandated by the Act. This massive undertaking led to establishment of new units and development of new procedures within the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS). Under this Act, each alien in the United States received an alien registration number ("A-number") and was required to carry an Alien Registration Receipt.

In what might have been a program limited only to the duration of World War II, the alien registration system and the A-numbers that were assigned under it became an integral and ongoing part of the immigration process. To this day, each alien has an A-number, and the A-number system itself has become the principal identifier of almost all aliens for almost all immigration processing. Almost all INS documents carry the alien’s specific A-number.

Background

In their book The Growth of the American Republic, U.S. historians Samuel Eliot Morison and Henry Steele Commager wrote:

There was a long American tradition of neutrality and neutral rights, and one of the most important of these rights was the freedom of the seas. From the Franco-American Treaty of 1778, the United States made it a consistent policy to enlarge the rights of neutrals and decrease the power of belligerents to disturb the peaceful part of the world. [At 548.]

But they also realized that, despite the desire to remain neutral, the United States was going to be affected by events – including wars -- in Europe. Speaking about the United States on the eve of its entry into World War I, Morison and Steele said:

From the very beginning the United States was vitally affected by the war. The most powerful of nations that remained neutral, we were likewise the most vulnerable. Our population included representatives of every racial group whose homelands were involved in the war, and their emotions were naturally aroused. Our commercial and financial relations extended to every European nation … . [At 547.]

This desire to stay out of European matters, and a feeling of vulnerability and worry about the loyalty of those resident on American soil, had existed almost from the beginning of the American Republic. In the 1790s, as Europe was engaged in wars and conflicts arising from the French Revolution in 1789, American neutrality was debated, and the allegiance of its residents questioned.

In a May 16, 1797, Special Message to the Senate and the House, President John Adams asserted the American desire -- and recognized the difficulty -- of remaining neutral from the conflicts in Europe.

Although it is very true that we ought not to involve ourselves in the political system of Europe, but to keep ourselves always distinct and separate from it if we can, yet to effect this separation, early, punctual, and continual information of the current chain of events and of the political projects in contemplation is no less necessary than if we were directly concerned in them. It is necessary, in order to the discovery of the efforts made to draw us into the vortex, in season to make preparations against them. However we may consider ourselves, the maritime and commercial powers of the world will consider the United States of America as forming a weight in that balance of power in Europe which never can be forgotten or neglected.

Asserting neutrality and the principle of freedom of the seas, America almost went to war against France. In what was termed "the quasi war with France," events in Europe resonated not only in relations among nations but within the United States. Debates over support for France or Great Britain split the then-ruling Federalist Party of President John Adams, with Thomas Jefferson and his group generally favoring France, while Alexander Hamilton and his group generally favored Great Britain. In the meantime, the loyalty of many American residents, particularly those of French and Irish ancestry (thought to be mostly pro-French), was questioned. The Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798 soon followed.

Also in 1798, Sec. 4 of the Naturalization Act  required all alien white persons – with few exceptions (namely accredited diplomatic officials) – who were residing in or coming to reside in the United States, to register with the clerk of the nearest district court or some other person "authorized by the President of the United States to register aliens" (1 Stat. 567). The Act stipulated penalties for failure to register, specified the information that was to be recorded and provided for a receipt of registration as well as for fees in connection with the registration. Clerks of the district courts were required to send reports of registered aliens and monthly updates of additions and deletions to the registry to the U.S. Department of State. The 1798 Naturalization Act was repealed in 1802. [2 Stat. 153]

The significance of the passage of the Alien Registration Act of 1940 should be seen in this context of a feeling of vulnerability, suspicion and fear probably not experienced since the early days of the Republic. While the U.S. had gone through several wars since the 1790s, no wholesale registration of aliens was required again until 1940. During that interim, the logistical problems of such a registration program and a philosophical desire to avoid a registration of aliens among the general population perhaps had combined to keep other proposals for alien registration from passage in Congress.

While the decennial census of 1940 would identify how many aliens were resident in the United States, this census information was not supposed to be used to identify aliens, nor would that information have been detailed enough to know who was doing what and where in the United States. As the U.S. moved closer to war, that information would be useful. Most particularly, Congress was worried about subversive activities on the part of aliens against the armed forces of the U.S. and sabotage against the U.S. Agencies such as the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Office of Naval Intelligence, the Secret Service, and Office of Strategic Services, were all interested in the whereabouts and affiliations of aliens in the United States. Yet there was no central registry of all aliens.

At the Immigration and Naturalization Service, the agency charged most specifically with the control and administration of immigration, there was no central registry of immigrants. Instead of keeping just one file per immigrant, various INS units in the immigration process kept their own files on the immigrants they encountered. These files were all kept in Washington, DC, because almost all decisions were made only in Washington, DC, until about 1950. By the 1920s, there were 22 different sets of files at INS Central Office, each with its own index, each in its own location.

Therefore, to develop a complete picture about a particular individual, file clerks – and there were many at the time! – had to check each of these indexes and pull the individual’s file under each. There were no consolidated files nor any way to track the same individual over time as s/he moved through various immigration processes.

To complicate matters even more, these files were kept in different buildings housing different INS units throughout the Washington, DC, area. Despite the realization of the need for a central filing system, there was no place or time or staff to bring all immigration files together. Small steps toward consolidation were made during the 1930s, when staff and funding provided under the New Deal’s Works Progress Administration (WPA) helped INS develop a master index from these single-purpose indexes. This master index identified all the files that existed on each individual and where to locate them. These were not consolidated, however, into one file. Only the indexes were consolidated. By the early 1940s, over 15 million records were stored by INS in Washington, DC. The Alien Registration Act would add 5 million more.

By the late 1930s, after the advent of Social Security and the use of that one number for a variety of purposes, INS itself began looking longingly toward some sort of a one-number, one–file system. The opportunity to create such a system came from the requirements of the Alien Registration Act of 1940. Not only did the Act require an immediate identification, registration, and certification of all resident aliens, it established a definitive identifier for each – the "A-number." Over the next few years, necessity finally met opportunity, melded, and the result changed the administration of INS programs and benefits forever.

June 1940

After years of discussion, the Alien Registration Act of 1940 (54 Stat. 670) was passed and signed into law on June 28. Reportedly, one of the main stumbling blocks during those years was opposition to fingerprinting aliens – the question of whether to treat a small group of people differently from the majority, or, if not, should we then extend the fingerprint requirement to all Americans, too. In 1940, the issue was resolved, and only aliens would be fingerprinted.

There were three main sections (titles) of the Act. Title I of the Act dealt with subversive activities and sabotage, specifically, forbidding any person – whether American citizens or aliens – from interfering with the loyalty of U.S. military or naval forces, advocating the overthrow of the U.S. government by force, or distributing printed matter advocating such overthrow. The Act prescribed penalties for such actions.

Title II did two things concerning deportation of aliens. First, it added more classes of aliens to be deported. Secondly, it added the ability for the Attorney General to regularize the status of certain undocumented ("illegal") migrants "who (have) proved good moral character for the preceding five years of residence in the United States" by suspending their orders of deportation "if … such deportation would result in serious economic detriment to a citizen or legally resident alien who is the spouse, parent or minor child of such deportable alien." After certain procedures were followed, including notification to Congress, this cancellation of deportation would lead to official admission for permanent residence. If the alien had entered the U.S. illegally, and had never had a legal admission, s/he would have to pay a fee of $18 to the INS to effect this cancellation.

Title III was the main thrust of the Act. The object of this part of the Act was to obtain a detailed inventory of the alien population in the United States during a period of national emergency. This part required the fingerprinting and registration of all aliens. First it required aliens who were applying for admission while still overseas to register and be fingerprinted at a U.S. consulate, with one copy of their registration attached to their visas to be collected and recorded upon entry to the United States. It also required all aliens 14 or more years old – who are "now or hereafter in the United States…" – to register and be fingerprinted within 30 days – or within 30 days of arrival in the U.S. Parents or guardians were required to register their children under the age of 14. Diplomats and their families were excepted, but few others were. This was a requirement for universal registration of the entire resident alien population, which was some 5 million out of a total U.S. population at the time of 132 million. Such a massive, comprehensive and centralized registration had never been done before.

The Act also defined the information to be requested and mandated that all registered aliens report any subsequent change of address to the government within five days from the date of that change for resident aliens, and within 90 days for nonresident aliens.

In Sec. 32 (a) of the Act, aliens had to register within a four-month period prescribed by the Government. Congress gave the administration only 60 days from the enactment of the act to gear up for the registration drive. The drive began on schedule on August 27 and concluded as mandated on December 26, 1940.

Registrations were to be made at post offices throughout the United States, additional personnel were authorized, including the rehiring of retired Government employees, and agencies throughout the Government were mobilized to achieve this registration. The Post Office Department carried out the work of registration and fingerprinting. [After June 30, 1941, registration of aliens was done principally by designated employees of the INS.] The Bureau of the Census and the Social Security Board assisted in the preparation of forms. The Federal Bureau of Investigation gave assistance in the formulation of instructions for fingerprinting. The Work Projects Administration, through 15,000 teachers of aliens, gave information on alien registration procedures. The chief State Offices of Education were requested by the U.S. Office of Education to contact county and city superintendents and enlist the cooperation of the public schools. The Government Printing Office would print and distribute the forms.

Fast Forward

Between the June 28, 1940, passage of the Act and the August 27 startup of registration, an incredible amount of work had to be done. First and foremost for INS, a special division was set up to supervise the registration procedure and coordinate the alien registration program. The purpose of the new Alien Registration Division was twofold. First, it was "important to explain the purpose and scope of the legislation to the aliens themselves, to the social (service) agencies and organizations interested in the aliens’ problems, and to the general public. Second, it was necessary to establish the mechanical and technical machinery so that the program would operate smoothly and effectively" (from "Administrative History of the INS During World War II," INS General Research Unit, August 19, 1946).

This unit also had to oversee the design, printing, and distribution of new forms required for the program. In all, by the beginning of the registration program, the Government Printing Office printed and distributed almost 40 million forms throughout the United States, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and Hawaii.

Alien Registration Program staff process a few
Alien Registration Forms in the Fall of 1940

At the beginning of the registration period, the INS Alien Registration Division had only 55 employees. By January 15, 1941, the Division had over 771 employees, and it peaked in July 1941 at 985 employees. During the registration period, an average of 30,000 registration documents were received daily! Each document was then reviewed, numbered serially, coded and microfilmed. When registration documents were complete, an authenticated registration card bearing the individual’s "A-number," name, and address was issued and mailed. Issuance and mailing of all cards to aliens were completed by March 15, 1941.

During the war, INS Central Office was moved to Philadelphia. [The INS was in Philadelphia from March 1942 until April 1948, when it returned to Washington, DC.  According to the INS Annual Report for FY 1948 (page 6), "The move (to Temporary Building X on the Mall in Washington, DC) involved ... terminating and replacing over half of the Central Office employees, as well as that of moving and setting up the files for all alien registrants and naturalized citizens."]  Previous to the move to Philadelphia, various units of the INS "Central Office" – and their specific files – had been housed in many buildings throughout Washington, D.C. Happily for those in INS wishing for some form of files consolidation, the wartime move to Philadelphia permitted the consolidation of most INS activities – and, importantly, their files – into one central location. Finally, most INS records were under the same roof, still in separate filing systems and with separate applicant identifier numbers for each system, but at least under one roof. This would prove important to the later consolidation of various action-based files into individual files, one per person.

Almost a year after the completion of the initial registration, in a letter to INS District Directors, the INS Commissioner provided the Service with a summary of accomplishments to date and plans for the future. The main registration period had concluded, he wrote, and a complete alphabetical file for every registered alien in the United States was completed and was being kept up to date in the INS Central Office (Headquarters). He then announced the transfer of the results of the registration and the further work of the Alien Registration Division to INS district offices. [The INS had 22 district offices: 20 in the continental U.S., one in Hawaii, and one in Puerto Rico that included jurisdiction over the Virgin Islands. The Border Patrol operated in 10 of those districts.] Within 60 days, he wrote, each INS District Director would be sent two cards for each registered alien in his jurisdiction: one with the name, address and registration number of the alien; the other punched and coded for sorting with information on occupation, military experience, steps being taken toward U.S. citizenship, relatives in the United States, criminal record, and membership in or affiliation with certain organizations. In the meantime, each District Director was to be supplied with lists of aliens born in Germany, Italy, and Japan. The letter was dated December 6, 1941. Interestingly, two days later, the United States of America was at war. Our formal entry into World War II was precipitated by the December 7, 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and declared by Congress on December 8 after a request by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. The information gathered by the alien registration program would be needed and heavily used.

During the first twelve months of the war, INS received over 3,000,000 requests for information about noncitizens. Many requests came from U.S. employers holding war contracts – at the time, 1 out of every 23 workers in American industry was a noncitizen. In addition, requests came in from the military and Office of Naval Intelligence for information about alien employees in industries engaged in the manufacture of war materials; from the Treasury Depart seeking information about treaty merchants in connection with impounded funds; from the Office of Export Control and Defense Board for information on aliens engaged in exporting; from the Selective Service System for information on locating possible draft dodgers among aliens; from the Federal Communications Commissioner, for information on aliens who were licensed radio operators; from the Civil Aeronautics Authority, checking on alien licensed pilots; from the Security and Exchange Commission seeking information on aliens involved in violations of securities acts.

In addition to the 1940 general registration of aliens, aliens from enemy countries were required by a January 14, 1942, Presidential Proclamation (No. 2537) to apply for a second registration. Pursuant to this Proclamation, the Attorney General issued orders ("Regulations Governing Certificates of Identification for Aliens of Enemy Nationality") requiring each enemy alien over 14 years of age to apply for a Certificate of Identification during the month of February 1942. This program was carried out by the Department of Justice’s Enemy Alien Unit, not by INS.

In 1942, as part of the National Citizenship Education Program, the Alien Registration Division (ARD) was requested to sort through the registrations and develop a list of names and addresses of prospective candidates for naturalization. Each registration record was reviewed by ARD staff for potential eligibility for naturalization, and a list of approximately 2,500,000 names was furnished to INS field offices.

By early 1944, the Service concluded that the maximum value of having a separate Alien Registration Division to oversee the alien registration program and the establishment of central records had been reached. By then the work of the ARD consisted primarily of filing new registrations and providing information from the records that existed. An internal INS report found that the ARD should be dismantled and its responsibilities assumed by other existing units. In particular, the report found that "Maintaining separate files relating to specific aliens is wasteful and inefficient, and the combining of alien registration records with the visa files in the future would be an immediate start toward the ultimate goal of having only one file for a specific alien or naturalized citizen (Townsend and Wiggins (Unpublished), "Report of Survey of Alien Registration Division," Office of the INS Deputy Commissioner, 1944).

In a major decision -- with consequences extending to today -- the INS decided as of April 1, 1944, to use the alien registration number as the file number for filing records of aliens. After that date, according to an April 25, 1944, memorandum signed by the Acting INS Commissioner, "any application or other type of form or correspondence relating to an alien … [should be] filed under the alien registration number. … If [after a search of the Master Index] other files exist, they [should be] merged or consolidated … and made part of the alien file." This files consolidation was undertaken first for aliens actively requesting something – creating so-called "active files." Files for "inactive cases" were consolidated only later, as time and resources permitted, and the Central Office alien registration indexes and files were eventually purged of the roughly one million aliens in the system who had naturalized, gone home, or died.

This consolidation continued when, at the end of fiscal year 1944 (June 30, 1944), approximately 932,000 alien enemy identification documents were also integrated with the alien registration records into master files.

During the period July 1, 1944, to June 30, 1945, the records of the Alien Registration Division were merged with those of the rest of Central Office, and the Alien Registration Division was itself dissolved.

The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 continued alien registration requirements for incoming aliens, but altered the address reporting requirements. Under the 1952 Act, aliens reported their address once a year under the address report program. This requirement was eliminated in 1981.

Over a half century later, the 1940s decision to adopt the A-number as the personal identifier of immigrants throughout their immigration processing facilitates the automation of record-keeping and benefit adjudication within INS. As the one field common to all INS automated data systems, the A-number serves as the identifier of all INS benefits and enforcement operations.

This is how and why all immigrants to and in the United States now have A-numbers and A-files at the INS. Interestingly, as a current reminder of the alien registration program, the Service still requires aliens to file forms AR-11 to report changes of their address; this is one of the many forms first developed and used in 1940.