A US immigration lawyer has said that President Trump’s executive order limiting automatic birthright citizenship could impact children born to undocumented Irish citizens in the US, leaving them separate from the rest of society.
Following his inauguration as the 47th President of the United States on Monday, Donald Trump signed a series of legally binding executive orders.
One of these aims to remove the right to automatic US citizenship for children born to undocumented immigrant parents or those born to a mother legally in the US on a temporary basis (such as a work visa) when the father is not a US citizen or lawful permanent resident.
Janice Flynn, a lawyer at Flynn Hodkinson, a firm in London and Dublin which specialises in US visa and nationality law said birthright citizenship has been the “bedrock of our immigration law since the 14th amendment.”
Ms Flynn said that the amendment, which grants automatic citizenship to anyone born in the US who is ‘subject to the jurisdiction thereof’, has been a “benefit” to the country.
“It’s straightforward. If you’re in the United States, you give birth, you’re contributing to society, you need to have that confidence that your children are going to have status and they’re not going to be treated like second-class citizens.”
She said that for the estimated 10,000 to 50,000 Irish citizens living in the US without residency, it could limit their children’s involvement in society and “access to education, employment and healthcare”.
“What’s that child’s status? Are they in sort of a sub-class of people that can’t participate in society?” she said.
“They’re going to feel like they’re kind of separate. If you think of this in schools, will it be known or will it be a ‘dirty secret’?”
However, she added that children with Irish parents are at a unique advantage in that they wouldn’t be stateless.
“If you’re an Irish citizen and you live abroad, if you were born in the island of Ireland, your child is automatically Irish if you’re born outside,” she said.
Ms Flynn believes the “unconstitutional” and “un-American” executive order will be defeated in court, but Trump’s immigration stance could still impact the undocumented Irish in the US.
“I think maybe some people go over and maybe they’ll go and they’ll overstay [their visa] by mistake,” she said.
“They get caught up. But it may put a damper on people wanting to come to America.
“In terms of deportations, we’ll have to see how that operates.
“I know there’s a lot of people who were from Ireland who work in the construction industry, so it sort of opens the lid on all of that. If they don’t have status, I’m wondering if they’ll think, ‘Oh well, I’m just giving up, I’m going to go back to Ireland’.
“It just feeds the fear. Unfortunately, it’s going to affect people of colour more than anything. So maybe not so much the Irish, but I think a knock-on effect if they’re going after these industries, they get caught up in it.
