The Fight to Protect Birthright Citizenship: Why It Matters
Trump’s latest attack on the Constitution threatens the core of what makes America, America.
Let’s talk about one of the most fundamental principles of American democracy: birthright citizenship.
If you’re born in the U.S., you’re a citizen. Period. It’s a right enshrined in the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, added in 1868 to ensure that no state could deny citizenship to formerly enslaved people. But now, more than 150 years later, this principle is under attack.
Donald Trump has signed an executive order aimed at ending birthright citizenship, a move that challenges both the Constitution and the values we claim to uphold as a nation. If successful, this would allow powerful individuals to decide who qualifies as an American and who doesn’t.
Here’s the deal:
The 14th Amendment is crystal clear: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States… are citizens of the United States.” There are no footnotes or exceptions.
And this isn’t the first time this principle has been challenged.
In 1895, Wong Kim Ark, a man born in San Francisco to immigrant parents, was denied reentry into the U.S. after a trip to China. His case went all the way to the Supreme Court, which ruled in his favor. The court upheld the 14th Amendment, affirming that if you’re born here, you’re an American citizen.
Now, Trump is trying to undo that legacy. His executive order threatens to strip millions of people, many of them children, of their birthright citizenship, undermining a principle that has held strong for generations.
Why this matters to me—and maybe to you, too:
I’m a naturalized citizen, and so is my husband. Our daughter was born here, and by law, she’s an American citizen. But this attack on birthright citizenship makes me wonder: What happens next?
What if one day they decide she doesn’t qualify as a citizen because her parents weren’t born here, only naturalized?
This is more than a legal debate; it’s personal. It’s a slippery slope that creates fear and uncertainty for families like mine and millions of others across the country.
And I know I’m not the only one thinking about this. This is scary. It makes me worry about how much further they might go.
This isn’t just about legal technicalities. This is about who we are as a country. The 14th Amendment was designed to prevent powerful individuals from picking and choosing who gets to belong to this nation.
If Trump’s executive order is allowed to stand, it could open the door to even more attacks on civil rights, and the lives of immigrant communities would be upended.
The stakes are high, but so is our resolve.
Right now, 24 states and cities are suing to block this executive order. Organizations like the ACLU are leading the fight, but they can’t do it alone. This is where we come in.
What you can do:
Stay informed: Understand the stakes and share credible information with others.
Talk about it: Conversations with friends and family matter more than you think.
Support the fight: Donate to organizations like the ACLU or local immigrant rights groups.
Vote for leaders who protect civil rights: Elections have consequences, and this issue right here shows us why every vote matters.
We’ve won this fight before, and we can win it again. But we can’t afford to stay silent. Together, we can stand up for the principles defining us as Americans.
Let’s make sure this attack on birthright citizenship ends up where it belongs: in the dustbin of history. 🗑️
UPDATE Jan 23, 2025: A federal judge temporarily blocked President Trump’s executive order that aims to restrict birthright citizenship, calling it “blatantly unconstitutional,” the New York Times reports.
