President Trump signed an executive order to end birthright citizenship for millions in the U.S. on Jan. 20., 2025, spiking anxiety among immigrant families, raising privacy concerns for students at DV, and bringing up constitutional concerns.
In 1868, birthright citizenship was added to the 14th Amendment, establishing that any child born in the United States is automatically a citizen. Executive order 14156 is meant to “Protect the meaning and value of American citizenship.”
Federal judges are deeming this unconstitutional, as 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.”
The 14th Amendment has become the basis for Supreme Court rulings related to birthright citizenship because of the Clause’s line about who is “subject to jurisdiction.” The reasoning behind this is due to the fact that the 14th Amendment “has never been interpreted to extend citizenship universally to everyone born within the United States.”
Donald Trump wants to ensure that in order to qualify a child as a citizen, at least one parent has to be a lawful citizen or permanent resident. However, the Constitution can only be altered through constitutional amendments, not through executive orders or legislation, and the process to change the Constitution is difficult and time-consuming.
As of Feb. 25., 2025, four federal judges have blocked this order, including judges in Maryland, Washington, New Hampshire, and Massechusets, and at least eight lawsuits have been filed that challenge Trump’s directive from over 20 states, immigrants rights groups, and expecting mothers.
Earvin Buckner, an assistant principal at DV, shares his thoughts on the impact of the birthright citizenship order on the school; while emphasizing that the law has not yet been ratified, Buckner refers to staff members as a “care team” for the students of DV.
“The staff will be taking a student-centered approach as we are aware that there are a number of students that have an immigrant status. Our ultimate goal is to maintain student safety and serve our students,” Buckner emphasized.
“I have colleagues in neighboring districts where the schools had higher numbers of immigrant students than in San Ramon, and they have been mobilizing to see how they can support our students,” Buckner shared.
On Trump’s inauguration day, Jan. 20., the Department of Homeland Security rescinded the protected areas policy issued by the Biden administration in 2021. In came a new directive, “Enforcement Actions in or Near Protected Areas,” that got rid of the policy that would prevent ICE and Customs Border Protection from entering sensitive locations, such as schools, colleges, hospitals, or churches for enforcement actions.
“The staff is not aware of those immigrant agents coming to neighboring schools currently; however, keeping up with the news, there have been [immigrant agents] around neighboring districts,” Buckner said.
This principle of a parent’s citizenship not affecting a US-born child was upheld in the 1898 Supreme Court case Wong Kim Ark v. United States, where Wong Kim Ark, who was born in San Francisco in 1873, was denied reentry into the US after a trip abroad under the Chinese Exclusion Act. This act prohibited any Chinese immigrant from becoming naturalized in the United States. He challenged the government in order to make them recognize his citizenship. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of Wong Kim Ark, holding that the language used in the 14th amendment ensured that the circumstances of his birth could not be limited by the powers of Congress.
Mahima Murali, a junior at DV born to immigrant parents, shared the impact of birthright citizenship on her family.
“My parents came to the US because they knew they would find better opportunities for tech jobs here,” Murali said.
“The immigration process is much easier when I go to and come back from India. I have personally seen my uncle and aunt, who don’t have their green card yet, when they had to visit India for a family emergency, couldn’t go immediately because they were still waiting on their visa. I had the privilege of not having to go through that,” Murali said.
Murali’s parents came to the U.S. so she wouldn’t have to go through the process of immigration like they did, allowing for greater mobility and opportunity.
“If Birthright Citizenship was to be taken away, it would bar a lot of people from creating promising futures. Birthright citizenship has impacted my life in a positive way. I think it’s sad that your parents worked so hard to come to the US, just for you to have to go through the same, tough, immigration process,” Murali remarked.
Only constitutional amendments can change the Constitution, not executive orders or legislation. Even Congress cannot alter it; therefore, the power to remove Birthright Citizenship is not in the president’s power. In the past, this rule was briefly rejected by Dred Scott v. Sandford, when the Supreme Court denied citizenship to the descendants of enslaved people. Buckner confidently concluded that he feels “good that our district is both aware and seems to be prioritizing the safety of the students.” He candidly shares that “if it ever got to that point, we are here to protect student privacy, and it has come directly from our superintendent that he will personally support any incidents that involve student privacy concerns.”
