From the moment Donald Trump sat down behind the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office, he was determined to strip away “birthright citizenship.” 

Before Trump signed an executive order, birthright citizenship consisted of the legal right of all children born in the United States to be granted immediate American citizenship. This very right is outlined in our Constitution. 

The 14th Amendment states, “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside.”

There it is. It is as clear as day.

But Trump wanted to strip away birthright citizenship, and so he did via executive order. When I first heard of his threat to do so, I was stuck between utter disbelief and careful optimism. He talks big about doing many things but does not follow through. Take lowering taxes for the middle class, for example.

However, I should have known better that careful optimism can no longer be applied to Trump. He has come into his second stint in office with something to prove.

In his January 20, 2025, executive order, Trump wrote, “But the Fourteenth Amendment has never been interpreted to extend citizenship universally to everyone born within the United States.”

He went on to say that United States citizenship privileges do not automatically extend to individuals born in the U.S. if their mother was unlawfully in the U.S. or was here lawfully but temporarily and the father was not a U.S. citizen or permanent resident.

Trump titled this executive order “Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship.” At the beginning of the order, he spoke of the “shameful” 1857 Dred Scott v. Sanford decision.

Yet, he does not find it shameful that if the 14th Amendment were to be repealed, millions of people would face the stripping of their constitutionally enshrined rights and face deportation. Millions would lose their access to education, healthcare and legal protections.

He does not find it shameful to be specifically targeting immigrants from Latin America, whose families have long relied on birthright citizenship to secure a future for their children. This, in combination with his ICE raids, is most definitely felt by this vulnerable community.

Birthright citizenship is a vital safety net for children born to undocumented immigrant parents as it guarantees them the same rights as all other citizens under the law. It is also a pathway for their parents to gain citizenship once their child turns 21.

However, if this order stands, it would have sweeping consequences for both the American legal system and society, but also for the United States’ standing on a global stage. Will the U.S. still be seen as the land of opportunity?

How does overturning birthright citizenship impact the symbolic significance of America’s identity as a nation of immigrants?

To this point, what seems to me a deep injustice beyond the destruction of people’s rights is the razing of the “American dream.” Now, has this already been destroyed? Perhaps. 

But the idea that America was a place of opportunity was the very reason so many sought to come here. Thousands fled violence by crossing rivers and walking for miles. They came to America with nothing but their hopes for a better future for their children.

Trump stripped that away with the swish of his pen.

Something Trump refuses to acknowledge is that the fight for the 14th Amendment has deep historical ties to slavery. After the Civil War, during the Reconstruction era, formerly enslaved individuals for equal representation under the law.

The 14th Amendment was passed in 1868 and granted citizenship to the formerly enslaved and their descendants. To dismantle this long-standing system, Congress would need to pass a constitutional amendment, or the Supreme Court would need to interpret it differently.

Both of these are a difficult and contentious process.

Now, several legal scholars and a judge have called the overturning of birthright citizenship unconstitutional. They claim that Trump cannot simply overturn something enshrined in the Constitution and that this fight will be taken to the courts.

But when has Trump ever acquiesced with any sort of legal proceeding in our country? When has he ever shown respect and trust in our justice system?

Never.

But this fight has just begun. As this event continues to develop, we cannot allow Trump to further tear apart this country for his gain and because of his misguided and bigoted ideologies.

For more information, visit the American Civil Liberties Union’s page on Trump’s overturning of birthright citizenship: https://www.aclu.org/publications/briefing-paper-president-trumps-attack-on-birthright-citizenship