Jamaican immigration advocates dismiss Trump’s executive order on birthright citizenship
Published:Wednesday | January 22, 2025 | 12:09 AMLester Hinds/Gleaner Writer
Jamaican immigration advocates in the United States (US) have said that the executive order signed by President Donald Trump to halt birthright citizenship is red meat to his base but will have little or no effect as birthright citizenship is enshrined in the US Constitution and a constitutional amendment would be required to end it.
The 14th Amendment to the US Constitution states: “ All persons born or naturalized in the US, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside.”
The Jamaican immigration advocates say they expect that a number of lawsuits will be filed against the executive order.
And the fallout from the executive order has already begun.
Already lawsuits have been filed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the Asian Law Caucus and the State Democracy Defenders Fund.
Meanwhile, some 12 democratic state attorneys general have also filed a lawsuit against the executive order.
A joint statement from the Congressional Black Caucus, the Congressional Asian-Pacific Caucus (CAPAC) and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus indicated that a cornerstone of the country’s more-than-century-old law is that those born on US soil are American citizens.
“ President Trump’s executive order to end birthright citizenship violates the 14th Amendment and the public oath he swore to protect and defend the Constitution,” the statement read.
“Through the hard-fought legal battle of Wong Kim Ark v. the United States in 1898, the Supreme Court upheld that birthright citizenship is a constitutionally protected right, and it is President Trump’s duty, as commander in chief of the free world, to uphold the law.
“We cannot allow President Trump and Congressional Republicans to go down this dangerous path that undermines the principles of equality and justice that our nation was built upon.”
The statement indicated that Congressional Democrats and the chairs of the Congressional Black Caucus, Congressional Hispanic Caucus, and Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus are ready to stand up to any attempts to undermine the Constitution and roll back fundamental civil rights.
‘SHAMELESS ABUSE’
“I was born in Flatbush, Brooklyn, 60 years ago to two Jamaican immigrants. My citizenship is my birthright. If Donald Trump wants to tell me, my family, my neighbours in Brooklyn and across New York and around the United States that our citizenship is illegitimate and we are not proper Americans, then he should expect to hear from the tens of millions of Americans he just disgraced,” said Congresswoman Yvette Clarke, whose parents are Jamaicans. “We are witnessing a shameless abuse of power, and I can say with certainty the immigrant community will not stand by as it progresses further. We will not yield to Mr Trump’s impropriety, illegality, and cruelty. He will not intimidate us.”
She said that, months ago, Trump promised he would be a dictator on ‘Day One’.
“Having reached ‘Day One’, and having seen our new president sign numerous executive orders that either override Congress, overrule the courts, or undo the Constitution altogether, it is entirely clear that Mr Trump has kept his word. With a power no president has ever known before, he has precisely spelled out how he plans to govern in the years to come – and that is by decree,” Clarke said. “Through his signature alone, Donald Trump has taken executive action that will worsen American lives and worsen America’s standing in our world. Among his many despicable commands, he has resurrected old, failed policies like the ‘Muslim Ban’ and ‘Remain in Mexico’, furthered current anti-DEI (diversity, equity, inclusion) and anti-fairness practices, withdrew our nation from the Paris Climate Agreement and World Health Organization, and introduced disturbing new policies like his decree to end birthright citizenship as a constitutionally enshrined protection,” she said.
Immigration attorney Winston Tucker told The Gleaner that Jamaicans should not be worried about the executive order.
“I don’t see any possibility of a constitutional amendment that would end birthright citizenship,” he said.
Tucker pointed to all steps that must be taken to overturn a clause of the Constitution and said, even if Congress wanted to do this, it would be a long and drawn-out process. He said he doubted that the US Supreme Court would uphold the executive order.
He did concede, however, that the order can be used to block certain things as, in the short term, people who would benefit from birthright citizenship can be frustrated but, in the end, their rights will not be denied.
Irwine Clare, head of the Queens-based Caribbean Immigration Services, said the executive order is “red meat” for Trump’s base.
Clare said what has always been referred to as “anchor babies”, where someone comes to the US specifically to give birth so the child will have citizenship, has long been a bone of contention but birthright citizenship is guaranteed by the US Constitution.
“Anyone born in the United States has rights to citizenship as per the Constitution, so an executive order cannot change this,” he said.
Clare said the executive order is a made-for-television order and will not go anywhere.
He said if an executive order can be used to overturn the 14th Amendment, which guarantees citizenship, then an executive order could also be used to overturn the Second Amendment, the right to bear arms.
Questioned if Caribbean and Jamaican immigration organisations would be taking the lead on the issue, Ambassador Curtis Ward said these organisations do not have the resources to undertake such a fight.
“It would be quite expensive so the best course is to file ‘friends of the court’ briefs on lawsuits taken by entities such as the ACLU,” he said.
The executive order signed by Trump points out that the 14th Amendment has never been interpreted to extend citizenship universally to everyone born in the US.