Yesterday, Trump’s continued attack on immigration policies was put to a halt as his attempt to remove birthright citizenship was rescinded. In the first month of Trump’s presidency, he has been critical of immigration and the due process of becoming a legal citizen in the USA; now he has to wait for a hearing before he can attempt another radical move against American citizens.
The order, issued on the first day of Trump’s presidency, Jan. 20, argued that the policy granting automatic citizenship to babies born on U.S. soil—as ensured by the 14th Amendment of the Constitution granting citizenship to people “born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof”—does not include people with no U.S. citizen parent.
While presented, the order was not signed, as several judges from other states and civil rights groups have filed to sue the government for violations if passed.
“Historically, the idea of something being one’s birthright meant something exclusionary, like an inheritance of rare wealth or status,” said Shanti Elise Prasad, campaign manager for Stop AAPI Hate, at a Tuesday, Feb. 11 town hall on Trump’s birthright citizenship order hosted by the organization.
The order would apply if a child’s mother were undocumented or had a legal but temporary immigration status and if the father were not a U.S. citizen or a legal permanent resident.
About 17.6 million U.S. youth under age 18 lived with at least one immigrant parent in 2022, comprising 26 percent of all 68.6 million U.S. youth, up from 24 percent in 2010, 19 percent in 2000, and 13 percent in 1990.
Of these youth, 4.4 million live with an undocumented immigrant parent.
An estimated 1.3 million U.S.-born adults age 18 and over were children of undocumented immigrants in 2022.
“The idea of birthright citizenship flips the script, giving everyone the same right, not a gift or privilege, the day they are born in America, independent of who their parents are,” Prasad added. “It’s fundamental to the dream of America and what it means to be an American.”
The 14th Amendment was ratified in 1868, after the Civil War, to grant full citizenship rights to freed African American slaves; its birthright citizenship clause has since been interpreted to include all U.S.-born children, regardless of parental immigration status.
The birthright amendment was challenged in a landmark Supreme Court case 30 years later, in 1898, after Wong Kim Ark, a man born to Chinese parents in San Francisco in 1870, was detained upon returning from a trip to China and told he wasn’t a U.S. citizen because his parents weren’t.
The Supreme Court ruled in favor of Wong that year, affirming that all U.S.-born children are U.S. citizens.
“When I learned about my family’s history, I thought it was history. But now, it’s become a very contemporary threat, and it will disenfranchise millions of us,” Wong’s grandson Norman Wong said at the town hall.
“If we’re to be free in this country, if we’re to keep this country together, we need to be welcomed,” he added.
The U.S. is among at least 33 countries where birthright citizenship applies; most are in the Americas, with Canada and Mexico among them.