Teresa Reyes Trujillo's Alien Registration Form

Teresa Reyes Trujillo's Alien Registration Form

Teresa Reyes Trujillo's Alien Registration Form

In September 1940, Teresa Reyes Trujillo filled out this Alien Registration Form, the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service's Form AR-2, in order to comply with the Alien Registration Act. Enacted in 1940, the law required that anyone living in the United States who was not a citizen or national register with the government. To do so, Trujillo would have gone to her local post office, gotten fingerprinted, and answered questions about her criminal history (none) and organizational affiliations (Catholic Church). Trujillo's answers to the questions on the Alien Registration Form revealed details both matter-of-fact (her address in Pomona, California) and personal (she was just five feet tall and went by "Daisy"). Most important, Trujillo indicated that she expected to reside in the U.S. permanently.

Having filled out the form, Trujillo was assigned an Alien Registration Number, 1866065, and for the next thirty-plus years all of her official work with the INS would be collected based on that number and compiled in what would become known, as of 1944, as an A-file.

U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS)

U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA)

U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA)

September 18, 1940

U.S. Department of Justice

public domain

English

Government records