by the Editorial Board
Donald Trump has officially been sworn in as the president of the United States. His first act as president was to sign a slew of executive orders that advance a number of his campaign promises. Importantly, he signed an executive order with the intent of revoking the 14th amendment, which unequivocally states that anyone born on US soil is granted citizenship automatically. Indeed, the executive order was given an Orwellian name: Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship. The order is quite vague at points, but essentially asserts that unless one parent was either a US citizen or permanent resident, the child is not automatically recognized as a citizen. Additionally, Trump has ordered Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to begin raids across the country with the aim of deporting millions of people. He has further stated on a number of occasions that he will invoke the Insurrection Act to deploy the military in a capacity that would assist ICE in carrying out mass deportations. As part of his executive orders, he declared that an “emergency” exists at the southern border caused by an invasion of “illegals”.
While the actual deportation effort till now has been rather subdued, the few cases that have been reported in the media have created panic, fear, anxiety, and uncertainty among millions of immigrants in the country. Rumors have been disseminated at massive speed about ICE raids. Parents are afraid to send their children to school, employees are afraid to report for work, worshipers are afraid to go to church. Millions of people are now in a state of confusion as they wonder whether their citizenship is in question on account of the birthright order. It should be noted that if applied retroactively, the order would nullify the citizenship of tens of millions of people. In this situation, it is not an exaggeration to say that a general atmosphere of terror and fear has been sown across the nation. And this fear benefits the present dispensation as they clearly hope that many will self-deport before ICE even reaches them.
In the face of this fear, defiance blooms. An informal “know your rights” campaign has been launched on social media, in many languages, in an attempt to inform people of what they should do if they encounter ICE. In many cities, “ICE Watch” groups are forming a rapid response network to document detentions and raids. Eighteen Democratic state attorneys general sued together to block the birthright order in a Massachusetts federal court Tuesday, led by the state attorneys general for New Jersey, Massachusetts, and California. A federal judge said Thursday that President Donald Trump’s executive order ending birthright citizenship was “blatantly unconstitutional.” Judge John Coughenour, a Reagan appointee, granted the request by Washington Attorney General Nick Brown and three other Democratic-led states for the emergency order halting implementation of the policy for the next 14 days while there are more briefings in the legal challenge. Several cities, states, police departments, school districts and other local governments are “signaling they won’t cooperate with what Trump administration officials are describing as the largest migrant deportation effort in U.S. history.” (The Department of Justice has threatened to prosecute officials resisting mass deportations.)
What really needs to be understood is that there is no salvation in the legal system. The Supreme Court is stacked with Trump loyalists, who are likely to bend to the Trumpian will. It would not be terribly surprising if a case ended up before the court regarding birthright citizenship, that they would rule in favor of the government, despite the prima facie absurdity of the idea that an executive order can be utilized to overrule a fundamental constitutional right. Moreover, the Democratic Party cannot be relied upon to lead resistance on this issue despite a few officials of good conscience willing to put up a fight. One need only point to the Laken Riley Act, which passed both chambers with significant Democratic support. Immigrants will continue to be scapegoated by those who want to redirect anger away from the establishment and status quo.
Now that the raids have begun, how will we respond? How will we, citizens of this evil empire, show up for our immigrant siblings? Will we block the raids? Will we warn our neighbors when an ICE vehicle is in the community? Will we provide sanctuary to our neighbors? Food, shelter, clothing? Let’s go all out for our immigrant family.