Undocumented Women Fear for Unborn Children After Trump’s Birthright Citizenship Order

Andrea Chavez, who arrived in the United States illegally almost two decades ago, gave birth to a baby girl last year in Maryland. Within days, the child had a Social Security number.

Ms. Chavez’s cousin Maria Calderas, who is undocumented and just a few months into her own pregnancy, faces the prospect that her child will not be able to secure the same citizenship rights that her niece now has.

On his first day in office, President Trump issued an order that seeks to end birthright citizenship for children born in the United States to undocumented immigrants. That right has been enshrined in the Constitution for more than 160 years, and experts say that stripping it away would require a constitutional amendment.

The incoming administration had made no secret of its intention to attack birthright citizenship, and hours after the order was issued lawsuits were filed by two coalitions of states and the American Civil Liberties Union, saying the directive violated the 14th Amendment’s citizenship provisions. Many lawyers have said the same thing.

But for a president who has made immigration a pillar of his agenda, the legal hurdles seem to be besides the point. Indeed, the Constitution seems little comfort to undocumented women like Ms. Calderas who are expecting to give birth to their children after the order goes into effect, 30 days from Jan. 20.

Ms. Calderas, who is from Guatemala, said Mr. Trump’s move stirred anxiety and uncertainty about the future of her family and especially her son. “It worries me that the new president doesn’t want to give citizenship to our baby,” she said. “This is where he will go to school and grow up. He will speak English like an American.”

In interviews, many of the women said that citizenship would guarantee their children access to health care and other vital benefits during their childhood, and provide a foundation for them to build successful lives as fully integrated Americans.

The executive order directs federal agencies not to issue documents recognizing U.S. citizenship of children born to mothers unlawfully in the United States or on a temporary legal status, such as work or student visas, unless the father is a green-card holder or citizen.

It is an attempt to reinterpret the 14th Amendment, which essentially says that anyone born in the country is a citizen. Ratified after the Civil War, the amendment was meant to ensure that, with slavery abolished, Black people’s citizenship would be protected.

Mr. Trump and his allies regard birthright citizenship as a magnet for illegal immigration and have asserted that undocumented immigrants are not covered by the 14th Amendment.

“It’s things like this that bring millions of people to our country, and they enter our country illegally,” Mr. Trump said in a campaign video last year.

Ms. Chavez, who was born in El Salvador, said that after she gave birth last year, it occurred to her how different her daughter’s life would be from her own, growing up in the United States without lawful immigration status.

“She is my firstborn, and a first-generation American,” said Ms. Chavez, 23, a graduate student at Brown University’s school of public health.

“I had a flashback of everything I had suffered because I didn’t have a piece of paper that said I was American, even though this is the only country I know,” said Ms. Chavez, who was brought to the United States when she was 4 and has had a temporary legal status since 2023.

“Ivana has her citizenship, which means she can access resources, travel abroad, attend any college,” she added about her daughter.

Changing the status quo on birthright citizenship would have major implications for countless children, even if the effort does not survive court challenges.

If they remain undocumented, the children could be denied driver’s licenses and in-state tuition rates at colleges later in life. They would be barred from holding elected office. They could not join the military.

“These children would be part of a permanent new underclass,” said Kathy Mautino, an immigration lawyer who specializes in citizenship.

The Citizenship Clause of the 14th Amendment says that all people “born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof” are U.S. citizens. The provision has since been interpreted to apply to virtually all children born here, regardless of their parents’ status. But some immigration restrictionists believe that there is a legal ground for narrowing its scope.

They argue that undocumented children are not subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, and therefore do not automatically gain citizenship under the amendment. The president’s executive order makes that assertion.

The clause was last tested in the courts more than a century ago. The Supreme Court, in United States v. Wong Kim Ark, held in 1898 that a child born to Chinese immigrants was a U.S. citizen, notwithstanding the Chinese Exclusion Act, which rendered his parents ineligible for citizenship.

It could be years before there are final court decisions that would almost certainly reach the Supreme Court.

“Even assuming there is a strong likelihood that these children are indeed citizens, there can be a lot of suffering between when a test case begins and a test case reaches final results,” said Gabriel J. Chin, a professor at the University of California, Davis, School of Law who recently co-wrote a law review article about the 14th Amendment.

Sandra Camacho, 28, was brought to the United States from Mexico when she was 7. She is a beneficiary of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, known as DACA, which has protected her from deportation and allowed her to work legally in the country. That status does not confer legal permanent residency.

Ms. Camacho said that she had been tracking Mr. Trump’s threats to abolish birthright citizenship. When he was elected, she felt fortunate that she had already given birth to two children, a boy who is now 4, and a girl who is 4 months old.

“Now I know I have two kids who made the cut,” said Ms. Camacho, who lives in Dallas and works in human resources.

“But we want to grow our family, and it’s difficult to make that decision if they might not have citizenship,” she said. “The possibility that my potential new baby could be at risk of deportation is difficult to fathom.”

The United States is one of at least 30 countries that automatically grant citizenship to anyone born within its borders. Finland, Sweden and Britain are among countries that restrict such citizenship.

U.S. citizenship is conferred to children born not just to immigrants but also to people working in the country temporarily or to so-called birth tourists, who travel to the United States while pregnant to deliver a baby who will be American.

The reach of the executive order remains unclear, but it could also deny citizenship to children of foreign professionals in the United States on work visas, such as an engineer on an H-1B for several years.

Proponents of ending birthright citizenship deride the American-born children of tourists and immigrants as “anchor babies,” implying that they will be used to secure public benefits and legal residence for their families.

When they turn 21, the American children can sponsor their parents for green cards. In reality, it is extremely difficult for parents who are undocumented to obtain green cards through their U.S.-citizen children, because doing so requires that they return to their home country and spend years there to complete the process. Most prefer not to take the risk, fearing they could be barred from re-entering the United States.

Yajaira Torres, 33, an undocumented immigrant from Colombia, was scheduled to have a cesarean section on Jan. 24, four days after Mr. Trump’s inauguration.

Last week, she received a call from her doctor’s office in Los Angeles informing her that the delivery had been moved up. She gave birth to a baby boy on Friday.

“Eithan Daniel will benefit from all the advantages of being an American,” she said.

Nivida, an undocumented Honduran in Louisiana, has a 3-year-old daughter born in the United States, and is expecting a boy in April.

“Her brother, to be born in the same country, might not have the same opportunities to study, get health care and live a stable life,” said Nivida, 28, who agreed to be interviewed on the condition that she be identified only by her first name.

“He hasn’t even been born and he already has to live in hiding,” she said.