Donald Trump introduces hardline policy to change the fate of Africans and other foreign nationals in USA

Africans in America

By Emmanuel Akyereko

Donald Trump, the President of the United States of America, has signed an executive order to end the right to citizenship for some children of foreign nationals born in the United States of America.

For centuries America has been a nation where birthright citizenship is a deeply held value however, the fresh attempts by the President to cut off the right will affect many foreign nationals with particular target aimed at coloured people.

Africa has the fastest-growing number of immigrants in the United States, according to a Quartz analysis of US Census Bureau data. The Africans population in America grew at a rate of 50 percent between 2010 and 2018.

Several civil rights organisations have already gnashed their teeth about the executive order of Trump and are prepared to challenge the policy of the President at the law court.

Late on Monday, The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) led a group of organizations in filing a lawsuit challenging Trump’s order.

When Trump and his allies reference birthright citizenship, they’re usually alluding to the legal principle of jus soli – which means “right of the soil” in Latin. Put simply, it allows nearly everyone born on US soil to become a US citizen.

According to a 2022 statistical research work, the Black population in the United States was estimated to be 47.9 million people. This includes people who identify as Black alone or in combination with other races.

Meanwhile, 13.7 percent of America’s population are people who are directly of African descent.

In 1857, the supreme court ruled that Black descendants of enslaved people could not be US citizens. However, just a little over 10 years later, this injustice was made right as the US ratified the 14th amendment.

The crucial lines of the 14th amendment reads: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.”