Leavitt: Foreign Nationals Must Register or Be “Arrested, Deported, Never Return”; SAVE Act Passes; 40+ Americans Freed Abroad

Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt delivered three major announcements in an April 2025 briefing. She warned that the deadline for the Alien Registration Act had arrived: “All foreign nationals present in the United States longer than 30 days must register. If not, you will be arrested, fined, deported, never to return to our country again.” She debunked Democratic “fearmongering” about the SAVE Act’s voter ID requirements affecting married women. And she announced Ksenia Karelina’s safe return from Russian detention — the 40th-plus American freed abroad in just 80 days, “more than half the number Biden released in four years.”

Alien Registration: “The Deadline Is Today”

Leavitt opened with the immigration enforcement announcement.

“The deadline for registration under the Alien Registration Act is today,” she said. “All foreign nationals present in the United States longer than 30 days must register with the federal government. Failure to comply with this is a crime punishable by fines, imprisonment, or both.”

She outlined the choice: “As President Trump and Secretary Noem have both said, if you register and you leave now — you choose to self-deport — you may have the opportunity to return later legally.”

The alternative: “But if not, you will be arrested, fined, deported, never to return to our country again.”

She stated the principle: “The Trump administration will continue to enforce our nation’s immigration laws. We will not pick and choose which laws to enforce. We must know who is in our country for the safety and the security of our homeland and for all American citizens.”

The Alien Registration Act requirement that foreign nationals register with the federal government was not new legislation — it had been on the books since 1940. Previous administrations had simply declined to enforce it. The Trump administration’s decision to enforce the existing law was consistent with its approach across immigration policy: not creating new legal authority but applying the authority that already existed.

The self-deportation pathway was the carrot that accompanied the enforcement stick. Foreign nationals who registered voluntarily and departed would preserve the possibility of returning legally in the future. Those who refused to register faced criminal penalties, deportation, and a permanent bar on re-entry. The choice was designed to reduce the enforcement burden by encouraging voluntary compliance while maintaining severe consequences for non-compliance.

SAVE Act: Debunking the “Married Women” Myth

Leavitt addressed the SAVE Act (Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act), which the House had passed the previous day.

“The SAVE Act is a common-sense measure,” she said. “It would require proof of citizenship for voting in our elections.”

She identified the Democratic attack: “The Democrats have been fearmongering about this bill, have been saying that married women, if their name has changed — they didn’t change it on their identification — would not be able to vote. That is complete fallacy.”

Leavitt cited the bill’s text: “There are provisions outlined in the bill about how to avoid that.”

She stated the administration’s support: “The president very much supports a common-sense solution to ensuring that only citizens can engage in our elections. This is critical to improving the integrity of our elections and also the trust that American citizens need to have in our electoral process.”

She made the point personal: “Certainly, I myself, as a married woman, would not stand before this podium if the president did not support such a common-sense measure.”

The married women argument had been the Democrats’ primary attack on the SAVE Act. The claim was that women who had recently married and changed their last names but hadn’t yet updated their identification would be unable to vote. Leavitt — herself a married woman — was the most effective messenger to debunk the claim. The bill included provisions for voters whose names didn’t match their current ID, including affidavit options and same-day resolution processes.

The broader argument about voter ID was one of the most thoroughly polled issues in American politics. Surveys consistently showed that 70-80% of Americans — including majorities of every demographic group — supported requiring identification to vote. The Democratic opposition to the SAVE Act put the party on the wrong side of overwhelming public opinion.

Ksenia Karelina: “I Never Felt More Blessed to Be American”

Leavitt concluded with the most emotionally powerful announcement of the briefing.

“Last night, Ksenia Karelina arrived back safely in the United States after being detained in Russia for more than a year,” she said.

She provided the context: “Since Inauguration Day, President Trump and his team have secured the release of more than 40 detained Americans abroad.”

The comparison: “This is more than half of the number of Americans released by Joe Biden in four years, and President Trump has brought these Americans home in 80 days.”

She committed to continuing: “This administration will continue to work hard to bring Americans home from around the world.”

Karelina herself provided the emotional punctuation. When asked for a message to the president, she said: “Mr. Trump, I’m so, so grateful for you to bring me home and for American government. I never felt more blessed to be American. And I’m so, so happy to get home. Thank you.”

Ksenia Karelina was a Russian-American dual citizen who had been detained in Russia on charges of treason for allegedly donating $51 to a Ukrainian charity. Her case had become a symbol of the political persecution that dual citizens faced in authoritarian countries. Her release — secured through diplomatic channels that the Trump administration had established with Russia alongside the Ukraine peace negotiations — demonstrated that the administration’s engagement with Moscow was producing tangible results beyond the ceasefire talks.

The 40-plus releases in 80 days versus Biden’s total over four years was the kind of comparison that needed no editorial commentary. Whatever one thought of Trump’s diplomacy, the pace of hostage and detainee releases was objectively extraordinary.

”More Than Half of Biden’s Four Years”

The statistic that Leavitt cited — more than 40 releases in 80 days compared to Biden’s four-year total — reflected the administration’s approach to hostage negotiations. Trump had made the return of detained Americans a personal priority, using his relationships with foreign leaders and his willingness to engage in direct diplomacy to secure releases that previous administrations had been unable or unwilling to achieve.

The velocity of releases suggested that many of these cases had been resolvable for years — that the obstacles were not legal or logistical but diplomatic. When the president made clear that detained Americans were a priority and that their release would be rewarded with improved bilateral relations, foreign governments responded.

The combination of the three announcements — alien registration enforcement, voter eligibility reform, and hostage release — captured the breadth of the administration’s activities on a single day. Immigration enforcement, election integrity, and diplomatic achievement were proceeding simultaneously, each reinforcing the administration’s narrative of competence and decisive action.

Key Takeaways

• Alien Registration Act deadline: “All foreign nationals present 30+ days must register. If not — arrested, fined, deported, never to return.”
• Self-deportation option offered: “Register and leave now, you may return legally later.”
• SAVE Act passed the House requiring citizenship proof to vote; Leavitt debunked the “married women can’t vote” myth as “complete fallacy.”
• Ksenia Karelina returned from Russian detention after over a year: “I never felt more blessed to be American.”
• 40+ Americans freed abroad in 80 days — “more than half the number Biden released in four years.”