Claremont Colleges students voice concern about Trump executive orders

President Donald Trump’s slew of executive orders since taking office January 20, particularly his attempt to end birthright citizenship in the United States, has unsettled many students at the Claremont Colleges. Photo/courtesy of White House

by Madeleine Farr | Special to the Courier

President Donald Trump’s slew of executive orders since taking office January 20, particularly his attempt to end birthright citizenship in the United States, has unsettled many students at the Claremont Colleges.

Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship,” one of 27 executive orders Trump issued on his first day back in the Oval Office, seeks to end automatic citizenship for children born on U.S. soil to non-citizen parents. Several students at the Claremont Colleges cited this as the order that concerned them most.

“My mom got birthright citizenship here. A lot of my friends have birthright citizenship … It’s kind of scary, especially at Pitzer, [where] we have a lot of international students,” said Pitzer College sophomore Karina Swerdloff. “But as horrible as he is, he doesn’t have much power to change the Constitution.”

Swerdloff is not alone in highlighting birthright citizenship’s constitutional basis in the 14th Amendment. On January 23, a federal judge in Seattle temporarily blocked Trump’s order, labeling it “blatantly unconstitutional.”

Trump has campaigned on stricter immigration and citizenship policies for nearly a decade. “It’s ridiculous that we’re the only country that has it,” Trump said Monday in remarks to House Republicans in Miami. “It was really meant for children of slaves … it was not meant for everyone to come into our country by airplane or charging across borders from all over the world and think they’re going to become citizens.”

Many Claremont students also shared concern over Trump’s actions regarding health, the environment, transgender rights, and government hiring practices.

At press time, Trump had issued 40 executive orders since taking office.

“The President is wasting no time delivering on the promises he made to the American people,” reads a January 24 poston the White House’s website. “The President signed more executive orders on his first day in office than any other president in history.”

Ellery Kooman, a Scripps sophomore, said Trump’s executive orders were simply “backwards,” from deportation to withdrawing from the World Health Organization, which, similar to his termination of birthright citizenship, Trump ordered on his first day in office. The order alleges  the WHO mishandled the COVID-19 pandemic among other global health crises, and failed to demonstrate autonomy from member nations’ political influence.

“This is a crucial time to be listening to actual scientists,” said Pitzer sophomore Natania Markos, expressing worry over global health and the environment.

Furthermore, Trump has attempted to restructure the federal government, from implementing the new Department of Government Efficiency to reinstating a previous directive from 2020 called “Schedule F.” Now called “Schedule Policy/Career,” the order reclassifies certain federal employees in policy-making roles under a new category, making it easier to hire and fire them.

“It means he can fire people that don’t agree with his agenda,” said Pomona College senior John Gergen. “It removes one of the biggest checks on the executive branch.”

With legal challenges to Trump’s actions already underway, students are closely following developments and potential impacts on their families, friends, and campus community.

Madeleine Farr is a Pitzer College sophomore studying politics and writing and rhetoric. She is chief copy editor at the Claremont Colleges student newspaper The Student Life, and hopes to pursue journalism after graduation.

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