In a move that has shaken the legal foundations of the United States, President Donald Trump signed an executive order seeking to eliminate birthright citizenship for children of undocumented immigrants and people with temporary visas. This action, which attempts to reinterpret the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution, has unleashed an unprecedented political and legal storm, highlighting the tensions that define American national identity in the 21st century.

The executive order signed by Trump during his first day in office represents a radical shift in the interpretation of a constitutional right recognized for more than 150 years. The administration argues that the phrase "subject to the jurisdiction thereof" in the Fourteenth Amendment excludes children of undocumented immigrants, an interpretation that contradicts the legal understanding established since 1898 with the case of Wong Kim Ark v. United States.

The human impact of this measure is devastating for families like that of Adriana Penagos, a Mexican educator who legally resides in the United States with a diplomatic visa. Her six-year-old son Santiago, who was born on American soil, now finds himself in a situation of legal uncertainty. "I would feel terrible if the new order affected him," confesses Adriana. "I gave up everything to come here: a good job, my family, a different way of life, and my support network. It would be a shame if my son, after living his entire life here legally and being an American citizen, cannot stay."

The demographic implications are equally significant. According to the Pew Research Center, in 2016 approximately 250,000 babies were born in the United States to unauthorized immigrant parents, a figure that represents a 36% decrease from the peak reached in 2007. However, the Migration Policy Institute estimates that eliminating birthright citizenship would increase the number of unauthorized immigrants to 4.7 million by 2050, creating a new class of stateless people within U.S. territory.

Defenders of the measure, such as Noel Emmons Corral, a commercial director in Miami and second-generation American, argue that citizenship "is not a right, but a privilege." According to her, the executive order addresses problems such as birth tourism: "This law is created to address challenges like organized tourism to have children in the United States. Wealthy people who come from other countries and guarantee citizenship for their children, which I don't think is right."

Opponents, for their part, emphasize the unconstitutional nature of the measure. Linda Chávez, senior researcher at the National Immigration Forum, describes the order as "an attack on the Constitution." "For 150 years, the right to citizenship has been guaranteed to all people born on American soil," she states. "The history of the United States has been characterized by extending rights to more and more people, not taking them away."

The legal battle has already begun. Eighteen state attorneys general and numerous civil rights groups have filed lawsuits against the executive order. A federal judge in Seattle, John Coughenour, issued a temporary restraining order, calling the order "blatantly unconstitutional." This decision marks the beginning of what promises to be a prolonged judicial battle that will likely reach the Supreme Court.

The future of this policy is uncertain. Most legal experts agree that a change of this magnitude would require a constitutional amendment, a process that would need two-thirds of the votes in both chambers of Congress and approval from three-quarters of the states. However, the mere existence of this executive order has sown fear and uncertainty in millions of families, reminding us that, in the Trump era, even the most fundamental rights can be questioned with a simple stroke of the pen, leaving American society facing the mirror of its own constitutional identity.