By Victoria Rivera
Maria is in her fourth year of college. She has lived in America all her life. She practically knows Brickell like the back of her hand. She’s spent countless all-nighters cranking out essays so she can earn scholarships to keep going to school.
Her parents may have come from Mexico, but they’ve lived on American ground for as long as she’s been alive. Through their herculean efforts, Maria’s now looking to move on to law school. This was the only life Maria‘s ever known, and now she’s forced to wonder if the country she’s called home even values her as a citizen.
There are now countless Marias in America who are left feeling betrayed by their country, many of whom attend Barry University. On Jan. 20, President Trump attempted to undermine the 14th amendment. Ever since its ratification 156 years ago, what was made to give equal protections to slaves would go on to cement America as a land of “dreams and opportunity.”
It was a beacon for anyone in search of a better life, its own Statue of Liberty reading “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.
Now, as part of Project 2025– which Trump purported not being a part of during the election due to a unilaterally negative reception— an executive order was placed to end birthright citizenship.
Birthright citizenship means regardless of the citizen status of the parents, the children will be granted a citizenship so long as they’re born on American ground.
When interviewed on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Dec. 8, 2024, his reasoning was: “We’re going to end that because it’s ridiculous.” Trump wants conditional birthrights, similar to China, Australia, or Russia where you need one parent to already hold a citizenship.
If Trump’s order comes to fruition, it doesn’t matter if you’re born even to legal immigrants. If one parent isn’t an American citizen, regardless of where you were born, neither are you.
Despite increasingly anti-immigrant sentiments, the United Nations estimated in 2024 that America is home to one-fifth of the entire world’s international migrant population. The Migration Policy Institute also estimated up to 27% of Americans were born to immigrants, a number that is likely higher now. This decision could affect over 45 million people in the U.S. alone, and many others who may’ve planned to settle here.
Barry University themselves reported in 2023 that 11% of their full-time students were non-resident aliens, a number that may be higher now. The second largest demographic at the time was also Hispanic, totaling 34%.
Only four days after the order was written, federal judge Deborah Boardman blocked it under the pretense of it blatantly being unconstitutional. Should Trump still try to brute force his way through, 18 states have already filed lawsuits. He would need to change the Constitution itself, which hasn’t happened in 32 years, with two-thirds approval from both the Senate and House of Representatives. If it managed to get pushed out, it also is not likely to have an immediate effect.
Leah Blumenfeld, a political scientist and a professor who’s worked at Barry almost 15 years, when questioned if citizenship might be revoked from American-born students, said “generally changes like this aren’t effective retroactively.”
“Those who already have claim to birthright citizenship should retain it, but then it affects who’s seen as a citizen moving forward. It affects the children of immigrants,” she said. “I think it would cause a major change to the composition of our citizenry.”
Yet, as ICE raids are performed across the country, some apprehending legal citizens and children on school buses, many students have expressed fears around they or their loved ones’ citizenship being revoked.
Professor Blumenfeld continued to note that the other pieces of our government that are supposed to limit the president are not doing the job.
“We’re probably going to see continued action. [Trump’s] definitely going to continue to push his agenda. Changing the Constitution would require an act of Congress and the states, which are the biggest hurdles. But if he’s already defying norms, defying the courts, who knows what he’ll do next,” she said.
It’s clear through this line of action that President Trump is actively trying to dissuade immigrants from entering at all. As anti-immigrant sentiments grow, Trump supporters and even some Hispanics have shown support for this decision. Yet, it denies what America was built on from the start
According to the Library of Congress, over 4 million Italian immigrants had come to America in 1920 over the course of forty years prior. The Irish were just as plentiful in those years. The “American Dream” so deeply idolized, the country’s greatest pride of how just enough hard work could give anyone a good life, was the dream of immigrants. The Statue of Liberty was their beacon of hope for a better tomorrow — if they worked hard enough, maybe they or their loved ones could be just as successful as anyone American born.
There will never be a way to fully purge the country of immigrants: legal or not. No matter how many raids are performed, America’s very foundation has immigration at the center of it. To wipe them away is to wipe away America’s identity. Trump’s executive orders will never be able to wipe them or students like Maria away.
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