Considering the Trump Administration’s deporting and evicting of immigrants

Since the Trump Administration moved into the Oval Office, there’s been major upheaval, with such actions as creating new tariffs, eliminating DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) programs, and firing thousands of federal employees across the nation.

But one of the biggest changes has been deportation. Along with these issues, we were curious… isn’t deportation of legal immgrants, citizens and people living in the U.S. with valid visas (such as college students) unconstitutional?

The National Immigration Law Center says this about the Trump Administration’s deportation: “Several of the Day 1 executive actions defy the constitutional and longstanding legal norms. The [current] Trump administration has, shockingly, attempted to unilaterally change the Constitution by depriving babies of their constitutionally guaranteed citizenship.”

We all know about the fact of birthright citizenship: even if your parents are living in the U.S. illegally, anyone born on American soil is deemed as a legal citizen (Fourteenth Amendment).

But what the National Immigration Law Center meant by “defy the constitutional and longstanding legal norms” was that the Trump Administration has ordered “the federal government to deny federal documents recognizing the citizenship of children born in the United States after February 18, 2025,” if either of the parents were not legal citizens at the child’s birth.

This means that millions of children around the U.S. no longer have their citizenship that the Constitution had previously guaranteed. Clearly, deporting children who are legally citizens is illegal, unconstitutional, and above all dehumanizing. The Trump Administration’s deportation of immigrant without a criminal history should NOT be happening and is an infringement on one’s constitutional rights.

In recent weeks, members of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have detained college students, who have legal student visas, with plans to deport them. One legal doctoral student at Tufts seemed to upset ICE by co-writing an opinion essay for her college newspaper, protesting Israel’s policy in Gaza.

We, the Talon staff, support the Constitutional rights of these individuals, whether they are immigrant families trying to stay in the United States or legal college students expressing their opinions.

So do major organizations that support student journalism, including the Student Press Law Center, National Scholastic Press Association, Quill and Scroll, and the Journalism Education Association.

NOTE: Update on Tufts student.