How Trump's Citizenship Executive Order will affect Higher Education

On Inauguration Day, Donald Trump signed an executive order titled "Protecting the meaning and value of American Citizenship."  This executive order focused on the issue of the meaning of birthright citizenship as described in the 14th Amendment.  In the future, complying with this policy would have significant impact on the processes of admitting all students at higher education institutions.

Although the full text of the executive order can be found here, here are the two key components of it:

Change in definition of citizenship

Prior to this executive order, anybody born in the US, regardless of parental status granted that person US citizenship.  This executive action carves out two different scenarios for which a person born in the US wouldn't be granted citizenship:

1. When neither parent is a legal resident:   "when that person’s mother was unlawfully present in the United States and the person’s father was not a United States citizen or lawful permanent resident at the time of said person’s birth"
2. When neither parent is either a permanent resident or citizen:  "when that person’s mother’s presence in the United States was lawful but temporary, and the person’s father was not a United States citizen or lawful permanent resident at the time of said person’s birth."

How this is to be applied and enforced

There are three key components to how this would be applied and enforced:

1. It is not retroactively applicable:  "[it] shall apply only to persons who are born within the United States after 30 days from the date of this order"
2. It affects identification documents, such as passports and driver's licenses:  "no department or agency of the United States government shall issue documents recognizing United States citizenship, or accept documents issued by State, local, or other governments or authorities"
3. It will affect how students are handled from an immigration status and financial aid perspective:  "The Secretary of State, the Attorney General, the Secretary of Homeland Security, and the Commissioner of Social Security shall take all appropriate measures to ensure that the regulations and policies of their respective departments and agencies are consistent with this order, and that no officers, employees, or agents of their respective departments and agencies act, or forbear from acting, in any manner inconsistent with this order."

How this will impact admissions and financial aid processes

Although it will take some time for those affected to reach college age, complying with this policy will have a significant impact on the information and documentation required for all students applying to a university.  Whereas a birth certificate for the student has been sufficient to prove citizenship status for both; it will be imperative for institutions to determine and validate the immigration status of the student's parents as well as the student.  This will add a significant amount of effort to institutions in terms of both determining what documentation is needed, gathering it, and verifying its authenticity and applicability.

As I predicted in my blog article two weeks ago, "2025: Our 5 Predictions for the Higher Education Industry", there will be a significant number of regulatory changes this year to which institutions will need to react.  This order on day 1 of the new administration could well be the first in many of these types of change.