By Sunita Sohrabji, Ethnic Media Services
Babies born after Feb. 20 to parents holding temporary work or student visas will not be eligible for birthright citizenship, under the provisions of an executive order signed by President Donald Trump.
The executive order applies to anyone who is not a lawful permanent resident, explained Aarti Kohli, executive director of the Asian Law Caucus, in an interview with Ethnic Media Services. Media focus has largely been on undocumented residents. (see related story) However, more than 1 million H-1B visa holders are in the green card queue, waiting to port their temporary visas into permanent status. But per-country caps, which state that no country can receive more than 7% of the green cards available that year, means that the wait time for a green card could stretch as long as 8 decades.
More than 70% of H-1B visa holders are highly-skilled workers from India.
Stateless
Children born in the US to parents holding H-1B or H-4 visas would essentially be stateless, said Kohli. They would be unable to access public health and nutrition support programs. And while they are eligible to attend elementary school, they may be ineligible to attend college or university, depending on the state they live in, she said.
“The executive order will be devastating because it will undermine one of the key principles in America. No matter where you come from, you can come here, and within a generation you belong. You are part of this society,” stated Kohli. “There are very few countries in the world which have that level of quick integration,” she said.
Immigrant Underclass
“In so many ways it benefits our country, both culturally, socially, economically, to not have created an underclass of immigrants.”
The executive order would create administrative burdens for all parents, said Kohli, noting that everyone would have to prove citizenship or legal permanent residency when applying for benefits for their children, or getting their kids’ social security cards.
It is unclear whether hospitals would be banned from issuing birth certificates to children of parents who are not lawful permanent residents, said Kohli. She noted that getting a birth certificate or citizenship from the parents’ home country could also be problematic.
Lawsuits
“For some people, they have no country to go back to. They’re stateless,” said Kohli.
Several civil rights organizations and 22 states immediately filed lawsuits after Trump signed the order. On Jan. 23, Federal District Court Judge John Coughenour issued an injunction, blocking implementation of the executive order for at least 14 days. The judge stated the executive order was unconstitutional.
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