This land is not your land: Trump has moved to limit US citizenship

For generations, people who lived and worked in the United States assumed that if they had a child there, that child would have the rights of citizenship that come with legal documents and government identification.

That may soon change.

The President of the United States, Donald Trump Executive order On his first day on the job, he shocked immigration observers with a dramatic performance.

Everyone Expected It would overturn a 125-year-old constitutional law that seeks to end birthright citizenship for children of illegal immigrants. But then he took a giant step. As currently written, his order remains in effect. Millions Many people who work legally in America Non-immigrant work visas It’s pushing more families — including many Canadians — into legal trouble. Only the children of at least one permanent resident survive.

“It’s unprecedented,” said Angela Maria Kelly, senior counsel for the American Immigration Lawyers Association.

“It’s the historical development of our national identity. And the basic principle that if you’re born here, you belong here. And your parents’ past is not your future.”

The order is non-retroactive – only valid for future birthdays starting next month. And he will argue in court, he already faces many charges.

In the meantime, it means uncertainty for people, and an epic legal battle that could last years, all the way to the US Supreme Court.

The current order appears to ban a broad range of citizenship documents for children, from tech workers on temporary visas to long-term workers at international institutions like the United Nations.

It states that no U.S. official should issue or accept citizenship documents for a mother’s child under legal but temporary status, such as a work, student, or tourist visa, when the father is not a citizen or permanent resident.

125 years of opposition to the law

Trump knows legal challenges are coming. He acknowledged as much when he signed the order in the Oval Office on Monday evening.

“That’s good. That’s a birthday. That’s big,” Trump told reporters as he signed a series of executive orders.

He expressed his belief that he had legitimate reasons to do so. But he appeared ignorant of the basic facts of the matter.

Trump said she was the only American with birthright citizenship and said it was “absolutely ridiculous.”

But citizenship is granted by birthright in dozens of countries around the world, as Most Americans – including Canada.

Others have them with conditions, and some don’t at all, including much of southern and eastern Europe, North Africa, and Asia. The change will make things especially complicated for people with children in the U.S. who don’t recognize births outside their home country, Kelly said.

This also puts their children at risk of becoming stateless, she said. Pregnant women living in the US should check not only US law, but also the law in their home country and decide where to give birth.

Who is in danger?

The charges immediately filed in the order listed some of the possible effects on humans, including A dress More than 20 blue states.

The unspoken numbers would be stateless, the suit says — ineligible for everything from a driver’s license to a Social Security number and the ability to work legally.

“All will be deported, and many will be stateless,” he said.

“The result will be multi-generational isolated families, each generation increasingly connected to any country except the United States, but forever outside.”

other clothing They gave their testimony about the injured people. The lawsuit was filed by Indonesian and Latino community groups in the U.S. District Court of New Hampshire.

A couple came to the US on tourist visas in 2023 and applied for asylum. They have a baby in a month.

Another woman has lived in America for over 20 years. She was brought illegally as a child, and now she is in the so-called Dreamers program. She gave birth in March.

They are among the many stories told in the case of people without official papers, keeping their identities secret.

The background story begins with the civil war

Their case may now rest on the interpretation of the 157-year-old. Constitutional reform.

Written after slavery 14th Amendment He overturned the Dred Scott case, a racist ruling by the United States Supreme Court that ruled that the descendants of African American slaves could not become citizens.

In the year The 1868 amendment made it clear that American citizenship was granted to all persons born in the United States and “by virtue thereof.”

The current battle is hanging on the last part in quotes.

Historically, it has been interpreted to mean all but a few children born in the US Diplomatic categoriesEnjoy full diplomatic immunity.

But Trump’s allies are challenging the biggest issues in the case, including the son of American-born Chinese immigrants.

Wong Kim Ark was born in San Francisco’s Chinatown in 1873. Twenty-two years later, he visited his parents’ homeland of China and was denied re-entry to the United States on the grounds that he was not a citizen.

And, because he was not eligible for citizenship Anti-China Law at the moment.

He fought the case all the way to the Supreme Court. In 1898 that court PurchasedAt 6-2, Wong was truly all-American.

The decision refers not only to the 14th Amendment; He made it clear that the members of Congress who passed the amendment knew it could apply not only to former slaves, but also to immigrants.

Some judges criticized the decision at the time. Since Then some called the purpose of the drafts selective reading.

Critics insist that the amendment was never intended to make it widely applicable. And 127 years later, opponents of the resolution have a president who is trying to overturn it.

“United States citizenship is a priceless and profound gift,” read the opening words of Trump’s executive order, laying out new categories of people who are now ineligible for it.