Over 150 years ago, citizenship was granted to all individuals born in the United States through the ratification of the 14th Amendment, but that may no longer be the case.  

In January 2025, President Donald Trump issued Executive Order 14160, ordering federal agencies to stop granting citizenship to children born in the U.S. to parents who are not lawful permanent residents or U.S. citizens. The removal of birthright citizenship would affect children born to undocumented parents in the future. The Supreme Court is currently debating the constitutionality of the executive order in the active case Trump v. Barbara. 

“Barbara,” the plaintiff suing the Donald Trump administration over the issuance of this executive order, is a pseudonym for a Honduran woman seeking asylum in the U.S. She escaped Honduras with her husband and three children, and has been living in New Hampshire since 2024. In February 2025, “Barbara” learned she was pregnant, which motivated her to sue the administration for removing birthright citizenship. 

In a court declaration, “Barbara” explained she chose to remain anonymous during her participation in this lawsuit because of fear that her family would be targeted and attacked by supporters of the Trump administration. However, she said she chose to participate in this lawsuit despite the risks because she wants her child to have the opportunity to work legally and have an education. 

Yet, “Barbara’s” child’s access to education would technically not be legally affected if birthright citizenship was removed, since public schools are required to provide education to all children regardless of immigration status, as guaranteed by the Supreme Court case Plyler v. Doe in 1982. 

However, while undocumented children would have legal access to these services, there are overlooked barriers to accessing their rights. 

Language barriers already affect how immigrant families are able to access special education services for their children. As part of her job, bilingual social worker in the New York City Public Schools (NYCPS) Claire Bellin ensures parents understand their rights regarding special education services and consent to the initial evaluation process for their child. 

Working in the Bronx, in an area with a large population of Spanish-speaking individuals, Bellin has a caseload in which about 40% of the families she works with use Spanish as the dominant language in their household. If a parent only speaks Spanish or another language, a translator is needed to translate the documents. Yet, Bellin said that many times, written materials are not translated accurately into Spanish, or even translated at all. 

She said, “Parents often don’t have the confidence to demand their rights. I’ve heard many parents from different public schools tell me they were told there’s no translator available when they want to communicate with teachers about a child’s progress and behavior.” 

She continued, “There are other general barriers, [such as] when parents haven’t had the opportunity to become fully literate in the language they speak, so reading a long document in the language they speak could be really cumbersome or impossible sometimes.” 

Language differences are one of the few problems immigrants face when navigating education services for their children. Fear is another issue. 

Gabriela Bermudez ‘28, a member of the Students of Color Empowering Excellence Through Mentorship (SCEEM) club at Masters, said she believes not having citizenship could create a sense of distress within families, negatively impacting their well-being. 

“[Not having citizenship] could instill a lot of fear within the families who have to experience that. They might have to do stuff illegally, or have that feeling to hide all the time and not be able to live in a safe environment,” she said. 

Similarly, Bellin believes children whose lives are disrupted by being removed from school because of their undocumented status or threat of deportation could affect them psychologically. 

She said, “​​I would definitely say that in addition to lost opportunities for learning, literacy and numeracy, I would predict poorer mental health outcomes [for those undocumented children].”

The Supreme Court’s decision on the constitutionality of Trump v. Barbara could shape how birthright citizenship is defined in the U.S. For educators and families, the court’s decision may also affect access to services, language barriers and students’ daily experiences in school.