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'Restrictive, undemocratic': UNC community shares concerns around citizenship changes

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UNC junior Taanvii Verma poses in front of the Genome Science Building on Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2025.

Some students and professionals at UNC have expressed worry after President Donald Trump passed an executive order redefining American citizenship for people born in the United States.

The order, which was passed on Trump’s first day of office, will deny citizenship to children born in the U.S. to parents who have immigrated illegally. The order is slated to go into effect on Feb. 19, but is not expected to affect individuals born before then.

A federal judge temporarily blocked the order on Jan. 23, calling it blatantly unconstitutional. 22 states, including North Carolina, have challenged the executive order due to violating the citizenship clause of the 14th Amendment.

“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,” the clause states.

In an email statement to The Daily Tar Heel, Senior Director of Media Relations Kevin Best wrote that UNC will comply with all federal and state laws and guidance. 

Best wrote that the University's International Student and Scholar Services will continue to monitor any immigration developments affecting international students, communicate those updates promptly and follow federal immigration requirements. 

As of fall 2023, UNC has over 2,600 international students enrolled from more than 110 countries, according to the UNC Global Affairs website.

On Jan. 24, Chancellor Lee Roberts said UNC will comply with orders from law enforcement for students on campus who may be sought by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials

Best also said there are no changes to UNC's H-1B visa program, which allows skilled workers such as professors to enter the United States and work in a specialty occupation.  

Isaac Unah, a UNC political science professor, said one of the reasons people want to come to the U.S. is because children born in the country are automatically citizens regardless of their parent’s citizenship status. 

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Professor Isaac Unah of the UNC Political Science Department poses for a portrait in Hamilton Hall on Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2025.

“You tend to make it, which is really something that a lot of countries around the world cannot boast about,” Unah, who is an immigrant himself, said. “The United States is world-known for giving immigrants a chance to bring out their best.”

Unah said even if birthright citizenship is taken away, the U.S. is still very much an immigrant nation. 

He said having national uncertainties around whether students or their families will be safe is ultimately a serious concern and disturbance for students who are learning in class. 

“A student came up to me and said she was very concerned because her parents don't have their papers yet,” Unah said. “This particular student was sharing some concerns that she had, and that she had to take some extra shifts at work, because her parents are going to have to lay low a little bit.”

Junior Taanvii Verma, who is a green-card holder and permanent resident, said her family came to the United States when she was two years old for her parents’ employment. 

As someone who has been waiting for citizenship for over 15 years, Verma said to deny someone who has been studying to become an important part of the American workforce should not be the fault of the immigrant. 

“It puts a restrictive, undemocratic definition on what citizenship means,” she said

Professor at the School of Law Rick Su said it is unlikely that any of the order’s provisions would necessarily affect a student that is currently in school, but it may affect children that students have in the future. 

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Professor Rick Su of the UNC School of Law in Van Hecke-Wettach Hall poses for a portrait on Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2025.

However, he said the passage of a law like this undermines the legacy of the 14th Amendment, which was ratified in the aftermath of the Civil War, in providing equal protection and rectifying the nation's previous “caste system” based on property, exploitation and violence.

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“This essentially creates that caste system,” Su said. “It means that individuals born in the United States, because of the status of their parents, will be punished and will not be treated as anyone else because of their parents' blood.”

As someone currently teaching a course on civil liberties under the Constitution, Unah said the issue of birthright citizenship is a fundamental right.

“I think U.S. citizenship is something that should be revered and honored and protected at all costs and it is a right that is not going to be just washed away very easily,” Unah said. “It is a right that we need to fight to maintain because it's really quite fundamental to who we are as citizens of the United States.”

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