Pregnant woman who escaped violence in Haiti anxious about Trump's birthright citizenship order
BOSTON - Violence in Haiti brought Lineda Robert and Claford Cyprien to the United States two years ago. But with President Trump in the White House, they're feeling anxious as they speak with WBZ-TV through an interpreter.
"He has some information about the whole situation, but he doesn't exactly know what to do," the interpreter said.
With Lineda seven months pregnant, the couple, who has work papers, look forward to their newborn becoming a United States citizen. "If the child is born in the U.S., it's very important for me. He's going to be the beneficiary of a good education, because it's very hard now to go back to Haiti."
But in one of many sweeping executive orders, Trump is attempting to end birthright citizenship guaranteed in the 14th Amendment of the Constitution as he argues certain categories of people, like those here without legal status, can be excluded.
It's left the couple confused. "We have to live our lives the way it is right now. We don't know what's going to happen in the future."
Legal hurdles for Trump
The question is, can the president change the Constitution with the sweep of a pen, one of the most difficult documents to amend in the first place. "It's only been done formally 27 times in 200 plus years," said Lawrence Friedman, a constitutional scholar at the New England School of Law.
Friedman says the president may have a different interpretation, but his order is unconstitutional. He says the legal hurdles to get this all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court where Trump has sympathetic judges, are numerous and lengthy.
"The 14th Amendment is unusually clear. It says that if you are born in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, you're a citizen. The president's order flies in the face of that," said Friedman.
Guerlande Jules-Fils thought she'd be reunited with her husband Wilmer Pierre-Charles in February. He's stuck at the Mexican border after finally fleeing Haiti, his appointment canceled with another order from Trump. "I'm really deceived because I thought he could come because he had an appointment already. That's why I'm deceived," said Jules-Fils.
How long he can remain at the border she doesn't know. The new administration is bringing a lot of uncertainty to families who have had hope.
