On the first day of his second term as president of the United States, President Donald Trump signed an executive order eliminating birthright citizenship. 

This executive order, entitled “Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship,” came as a surprise to me and many others. Birthright citizenship is protected by the 14th Amendment of the Constitution, and the way that the courts have interpreted it has remained consistent for over a century.

When I read this order, I felt confused and concerned. With a baseline understanding of how the federal government works, I understood that it was not within President Trump’s jurisdiction to reinterpret the Constitution, so I decided to dig deeper into what this order really means.

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The amendment reads, “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.” 

It originated out of one of the darkest times in our nation’s history. Initially passed three years after the abolition of slavery, the goal of this amendment was to correct the Supreme Court’s terrible holding in Dred Scott v. Sandford, which established that Black people could not be citizens, as they were a “separate class of persons.” The 14th Amendment trumped this decision and established a right for all persons born in the U.S. to be citizens. 

These protections were confirmed to apply to the children of immigrants in 1898 when the Supreme Court ruled that Wong Kim Ark, a man born in San Francisco to Chinese immigrants, was a U.S. citizen under the 14th Amendment. 

The removal of birthright citizenship would regress us back to a system of inheritance-based citizenship or a system that uses the citizenship status of one’s parents to determine citizenship. This is deeply antithetical to the American Experiment. 

Without birthright citizenship, our nation would be drastically different. One of the first changes would be the emergence of a large population of young children born in the U.S. with no clear path to citizenship. The U.S. is often said to be a “melting pot,” but as we become hostile to people who have been integral to the character of this nation, we lose sight of our values. 

But it is important to remember that President Trump does not have the power to reinterpret the Constitution, and the facts are plain: This executive order goes against the 14th Amendment. 

On Jan. 21, the day after this order was signed, it was blocked by a federal judge out of Washington D.C. Since then, 22 states have sued against this executive order on the basis that it is unconstitutional. 

While this order will likely not hold up, that does not appear to be President Trump’s concern. It seems that in signing this order, President Trump hopes to instigate fear among some of the most vulnerable communities in our country, immigrants especially. 

President Trump may be hoping that the fear of having children born into limbo may prevent immigrant women from coming into the country or spur the ones who are already here to leave. With the uptick of Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids in immigrant communities, Trump is pushing a community that is already in hiding further into the shadows.

When the protections of the 14th Amendment were extended to Wong Kim Ark, the Chinese Exclusion Act was still in place, barring Chinese immigrants from entering the U.S. Even in a time when the laws of this nation were so discriminatory, the protection of the 14th Amendment held strong. 

Ultimately, President Trump does not have the authority to override the Constitution. He is not a king. We should not let him intimidate us with power he does not have. 

If you have friends who have benefited from the protection of the 14th Amendment, support them. If you know people who are directly harmed by President Trump’s actions, let them know that they are not alone by being there for them. USC is lucky to have a rich and diverse community that is made up of both international students and students who are first-generation American citizens. President or not, our nation’s Constitution must be stronger than one man.