How Trump's birthright citizenship order could affect children of legal visa-holders
Legal experts warn that those whose parents are on work and student visas won’t be exempt from the implications of the new order.
As immigrants across the U.S. contend with President Donald Trump’s executive order on birthright citizenship, legal experts are sounding the alarm on what it will mean for visa-holding families.
The order, issued Monday on Trump’s first day back in office, declares that not all children born in the U.S. are automatically granted U.S. citizenship. Specifically, for children whose parents are either undocumented or on temporary visas — for work, travel or school — citizenship will not be a given.
For some Asians, who dominate high-skill work visas like the H1B and student visas like the F1, this prospect could be life-altering, experts say. If one parent is not a U.S. citizen or permanent resident at the time of the child’s birth, the order says, their child will not be a citizen.
Experts say that this is in direct violation of the Constitution and that the Supreme Court may not uphold it, but many immigrants are already afraid. Bethany Li, executive director of the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund, says she sees Trump’s move as an attempt to exclude certain groups based on race.
“This order doesn’t just target undocumented people,” Li said. “It targets people that come in through student visas. It targets people who have tourist visas. That order, ultimately, is about who Trump considers American.”
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