Washington DC - A district judge ruled in favor of a Trump administration plan which would see undocumented migrants obliged to register with the federal government or face legal action.

District Judge Trevor McFadden ruled that a lawsuit filed by groups – including the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights and the United Farm Workers of America – had been brought on insufficient grounds.

"As organizations, many of their harms are too speculative, and they have failed to show that the Rule will erode their core missions," McFadden wrote.

The rule, set to be implemented by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on Friday, will launch a new government website on which all unregistered migrants without documentation will be required to register.

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If an undocumented migrant fails to register on the new website, they could face "fine, imprisonment, or both," according to a DHS statement from February which also included repeated references to mass deportation.

Critics of the policy call it "entrapment" for undocumented immigrants, forcing them to provide information which could be used against them by US Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) and other agencies.

As the Trump administration ramps up mass deportations – often based on unfounded grounds – and arrests of legitimate asylum seekers, many warn that registering as an undocumented migrant would be extremely risky.

"Coming forward to register will be extremely dangerous for most undocumented community members," wrote the National Immigration Law Center (NILC) in a fact sheet on the policy. "It could lead to detention, deportation, and possibly criminal prosecution."

NILC advises people who might be affected by the rule to "consult with an immigration attorney to better understand the consequences of registering or of not registering."