The next step is they will try to somehow make failure to self-report a felony, and then leverage that into claiming that "only felons" are being deported.

The article alludes to it at the end:

> In late February, the administration said it would create a national registry for undocumented migrants and those failing to sign up could possibly face criminal prosecution.

This is significant because most undocumented immigrants arrived normally and then overstayed a visa, which is not a felony nor misdemeanor, but an even lower category of "civil infraction"--like a parking ticket.

Spending a ton of money to potentially jail a lot of people who otherwise were doing better things than sitting in jail…

So they want to waste resources in courts and keep them in jails to feed them?