My Mama Chela\u2019s U.S. citizenship allowed all her children to come here legally. One of them was my mother, Mar\u00eda de la Luz<\/a>. As a permanent resident, Mami could easily travel back and forth between Anaheim and El Cargadero when others had to wait for years for visas or come into el Norte without papers<\/a>.<\/p>\n One of them was my father, Lorenzo Arellano. <\/p>\n When my parents married in 1977, my mother legalized his status. They became U.S. citizens in the mid-1990s, joining my three siblings and me \u2014 all born in los Estados Unidos \u2014 as Americans in the eyes of the law.<\/p>\n For my family, having kids who were U.S. citizens by birth was never about exploiting loopholes or taking advantage of taxpayers. It\u2019s what naturally happens when immigrants seek a better life. It gave multiple generations the assurance that we couldn\u2019t easily be deported, unlike others we knew who didn\u2019t have the good fortune to be born here. <\/p>\n That security allowed us to do everything immigrants and their children are supposed to do: buy homes, build careers, contribute to civic life and love this country. I\u2019ve never once taken it for granted, especially as friends and family members have lived for decades in a terrible limbo over their legal status. <\/p>\n Birthright citizenship immeasurably helped my family\u2019s American dream<\/a>. So, yeah, I\u2019m especially offended that President Trump and his lackeys want it dead.<\/p>\n He tried to end it with an executive order the first day of his second term<\/a>, stating that the \u201csacred honor\u201d of American citizenship \u201chas been abused\u201d by people like my family. That led to a lawsuit that the Supreme Court heard this week<\/a>. Trump sat in the front row for part of the oral arguments, becoming the first sitting president to attend such a hearing. <\/p>\n Think of all the historic cases the highest court in the land has heard in its 237 years. An attempt to strike down birthright citizenship \u2014 which many legal scholars say<\/a> is enshrined in the 14th Amendment and secured by an 1898 Supreme Court case \u2014 was the first time a commander in chief swung by?<\/p>\n President Trump signs an executive order on birthright citizenship in the Oval Office on the first day of his second term on Jan. 20, 2025.<\/p>\n (Evan Vucci \/ Associated Press)<\/p>\n Trump left the courtroom after conservative judges \u2014 some appointed by him \u2014 openly scoffed at the Department of Justice\u2019s arguments. No decision is expected until summer, but MAGA Nation reacted as if Chief Justice John Roberts had announced that he would personally deliver every non-white baby on the planet and issue them a Social Security number on the spot.<\/p>\n White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller \u2014 whose maternal great-grandfather arrived in this country<\/a> just five years before mine \u2014 whined, \u201cBirthright citizenship means the children of illegal aliens can vote to tax your children and seize their inheritance.\u201d<\/p>\n The social media account for the Senate Republican Conference thundered, \u201cBirthright citizenship for illegal aliens is a national security risk.\u201d<\/p>\n Conservative influencer Matt Walsh claimed that the argument for birthright citizenship \u2014 which, again, rests on the Constitution and a previous Supreme Court decision \u2014 is \u201cso psychotic that you can\u2019t even argue against it. Like trying to have a political debate with a dog.\u201d<\/p>\n Ann Coulter, classless as always, described birthright citizenship as \u201cif an 8-month-pregnant Mexican woman runs across the border and drops a baby.\u201d<\/p>\n Trump, for his part, huffed, \u201cWe are the only Country in the World STUPID enough to allow \u2018Birthright\u2019 Citizenship!\u201d Not true \u2014 the Pew Research Center found 32 countries<\/a> that have standards just like ours, while at least 50 others allow people born within their borders to become citizens if they meet certain criteria.<\/p>\n But since when did facts get in the way of a Trumpian lie spewed in the name of a bigoted narrative? Just check out the Department of Homeland Security\u2019s press release<\/a> announcing that two American citizens charged with attempting to bomb an Air Force base were the children of \u201cillegal aliens\u201d from China. I\u2019ve never seen DHS do that for white criminals.<\/p>\n For an administration headed by a convicted felon<\/a> who thinks of the American justice system as a mace with which to crush his enemies, rolling back birthright citizenship isn\u2019t about the rule of law. It\u2019s about keeping this country as white as possible \u2014 just like in the past. <\/p>\n The Supreme Court case establishing birthright citizenship involved a Chinese American man named Wong Kim Ark<\/a>, born to parents who came here legally but couldn\u2019t become citizens because of the era\u2019s anti-Chinese laws. The derogatory term \u201canchor baby<\/a>\u201d emerged in the 1980s and originally referred to the U.S.-born children of Vietnamese refugees \u2014 who were here legally, by the way.<\/p>\n In the 1990s, politicians tried to one-up each other with xenophobic legislation and ballot initiatives<\/a> to fight against what they claimed was an invasion from Mexico \u2014 and we children of immigrants were a top target. It wasn\u2019t just Republicans: No less a liberal lion than then-U.S. Sen. Harry Reid blasted birthright citizenship in 1993, arguing that \u201cno sane country would do that\u201d as he introduced an unsuccessful bill to end the practice. Thirteen years later, Reid said it was \u201cthe biggest mistake I ever made.\u201d<\/p>\n Trump World\u2019s insistence that who belongs in this country should be based on blood and heritage<\/a>, not ideals and birthplace, would have excluded my family long ago, even as their labor was gladly accepted in exploitative industries such as mining, agriculture and trucking. <\/p>\n That\u2019s what makes Trump\u2019s racist crusade especially sickening. If birthright citizenship were to end, he might try to retroactively take away the citizenship of those who have benefited from it, as some have called for him to do. Republican lawmakers have already stated their intent to challenge Plyler vs. Doe, a 1982 Supreme Court decision that allows the children of illegal immigrants, whether U.S. citizens or not, to attend public schools. Those two moves, if successful, would create a two-tiered system straight out of South Africa\u2019s apartheid era.<\/p>\n And that would be the point. If you don\u2019t think the Trump administration is racist at its core, you must also think his orange skin is natural.<\/p>\n Ending birthright citizenship is morally wrong, economically stupid and increasingly unpopular. If the Supreme Court does vote to maintain the 14th Amendment as is, expect Republicans to come up with legislation to enact their racist aims. <\/p>\n But they\u2019re fighting a lost cause. In a Fox News poll last month<\/a>, 69% of voters thought that children born to undocumented immigrants should automatically become citizens. That\u2019s way up from 45% of those polled 20 years ago.<\/p>\n When Fox News viewers think a MAGA dog whistle is wrong, you know you\u2019re on the wrong side of history.<\/p>\n ![\"President](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1775310369_242_.jpeg\")
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