President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Jan. 20 aiming to end birthright citizenship in the United States by means of redefining the Constitution.
The order states that citizenship, according to the 14th Amendment, does not automatically extend to people born from parents who were unlawfully present in the United States at the time of their birth, or when the mother’s presence was granted lawfully but temporarily.
As the executive order faces backlash, University students, a professor and an alumnus said the Trump Administration's approach to immigration concerns them because of the rhetoric against immigrants and its impact on their personal lives.
"The Fourteenth Amendment has never been interpreted to extend citizenship universally to everyone born within the United States," according to the executive order.
Professor Rafael Martinez, assistant professor of Southwest Borderlands with the College of Integrative Science and Arts, defines birthright citizenship as a constitutional right unique to the United States that "has been a foundation of this country since the founding fathers."
He said Trump seeks to ban birthright citizenship due to a widespread misconception about "anchor babies."
"It goes back to that idea that immigrants, refugees, and asylum cases are coming to the United States to give birth to children to, quote, unquote, take advantage of the privileges of citizenship that should be prescribed for only U.S. citizens," Martinez said.
Martinez said proposals like this executive order will be fought against by the immigrant community and allies who know that it is not the correct approach.
No more than 24 hours after President Trump signed the order, 22 states joined a federal lawsuit suing Trump for this order, including Arizona.
"No executive order can supersede the United States Constitution and over 150 years of settled law," Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes said in a press release.
As of Thursday, Senior U.S. District Judge John C. Coughenour has temporarily blocked Trump's order from taking effect until Feb. 6.
Although the legal fate of the executive order is uncertain, organizations like Aliento AZ, a nonprofit organization in the Phoenix metropolitan area, are still preparing to help students in any way they can.
"Our core belief is that no human being should be limited by their immigration status," said José Patiño, vice president of Aliento AZ.
Having experienced life as a DACA student and recipient while completing his bachelor's degree at ASU, Patiño’s concerns about immigrants living without permanent legal status come from a personal place.
"We're worried about the mental health of a lot of our students, and of a lot of our children that we serve," Patiño said.
Emily Sotelo Estrada, a junior studying justice studies and economics and co-chair of Aliento at ASU, shared this sentiment.
"There are so many students that are going to be impacted by this, and it's challenging to live with these worries and then also deal with the regular stressors of being a student," Estrada said.
She also expressed concerns about the rhetoric regarding birthright citizens like herself.
"I consider myself and all my family members Americans in every sense," Estrada said.
She said when she heard birthright citizenship was being redefined, it made her feel like she and other individuals were being targeted and their "humanity wasn't being acknowledged."
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"They're your friends, they're your neighbors, they're the students that we have on campus," Estrada said. "And the immigrant that they're calling a criminal is not a criminal. It's my dad who raised me and who was my soccer coach for 10 years. They're people."
Echoing those concerns was Arlene Macias, a junior studying public service and public policy, whose parents are Mexican immigrants.
Macias said immigrants are unfairly misrepresented in the United States.
"Immigrants pay into our tax system, but they are not able to receive anything from it," she said. "A lot of the rhetoric spread about immigrants, that they’re taking jobs away from us ... it's a very big misconception."
Additionally, Martinez is concerned about the language and rhetoric that policies like these spread about immigrants.
"The way that political subjects, in this case immigrant families and children, are being labeled matters coming from people within the highest seat of power in this country," he said.
Edited by George Headley, Sophia Braccio, Tiya Talwar, Alexis Heichman and Natalia Jarrett.
Reach the reporters at vcruzbut@asu.edu and mhaynie3@asu.edu and follow @valeriacbutron on X.
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Madison is a sophomore studying mass communication and media studies. This is her first semester with The State Press. She has also worked as a music journalist for 2 years and a photographer for 5 years.
