the Trump administration over birthright citizenship
By Alina Ta SENIOR STAFF WRITER
Santa Clara County filed two lawsuits against President Donald J. Trump and his administration for attempting to add new criteria for birthright citizenship and for attempting to target sanctuary cities by withholding federal funding.
Jurisdictions with “sanctuary” policies are states, counties or cities that limit their cooperation with federal law enforcement in immigration enforcement, according to a 2020 document from the Congressional Research Service.
Tony LoPresti, the county counsel and an executive for Santa Clara County, said he and the county government felt it was critical to stand up for the rights of its residents and to defend the United States Constitution.
“That right to birthright citizenship has been enshrined in the Constitution for well over 150 years,” LoPresti said. “It s been affirmed by the United States Supreme Court, and it is foundational to our country and the way that our country operates for us as a county.”
Birthright citizenship is protected by the 14th Amendment, which guarantees citizenship to every child born on U.S. soil, according to an Oct. 2024 fact sheet from the American Immigration Council.
Santa Clara County filed a lawsuit on Jan. 30 against the president and his administration that aimed to take away birthright citizenship from hundreds of children in the future, according to the county’s complaint.
The county argues that Trump’s executive order goes against 157 years of precedent that was first established by the 14th Amendment, according to the same source.
On Jan. 20, Trump signed an executive order reinterpreting the 14th Amendment to exclude children born from parents who are not
nationals or citizens of the United States, according to the executive order.
According to the administration’s reinterpretation, Congress has specified through past legislation that citizenship should not be automatically granted to an individual born in the U.S. based on the parents’ status as a citizen or as an immigrant.
Specifically, citizenship should not be granted if a person’s mother is unlawfully in the U.S. or if she only has temporary immigration status, and if the father is not a permanent resident in both scenarios, according to the same executive order.
LoPresti said it would impact Santa Clara County’s ability to provide social services to residents because of the fear the executive order could further create.
He said many residents in the community have various levels of immigration status, including asylum seekers who depend on work visas.
“Taking away birthright citizenship would impact their sense of security, (and) their willingness to be in our country, (to contribute) to our economy, (to contribute) to our private industry (and to contribute) to our government's functions,” LoPresti said.
On the same day, Trump signed another executive order to take away or pause federal funding for organizations that support “removable or illegal aliens,” according to the executive order.
This executive order gives the Attorney General and the Secretary of Homeland Security
the power to take lawful action against “sanctuary” jurisdictions to ensure they can not access federal funds, according to the same executive order.
according to the same source.
to protect immigrant families from deportation threats on a 24/7 basis, according to a webpage from Sacred Heart.
it the right way,” Hsiu said. “It’s not about race . . . Just come here legally. If not, you may get deported.”
The right to birthright citizenship has been enshrined in the Constitution for well over 150 years.
Tony LoPresti County counsel and an executive for Santa Clara County
Santa Clara County filed a second lawsuit on Feb. 7 against the administration for attempting to illegally harm communities that have “sanctuary” policies, according to a press release from the county.
LoPresti said the federal government is not allowed to force local governments to help federal law officers enforce civil immigration laws.
“(The federal government) can’t commandeer our local law enforcement officers to try to turn them into agents of mass deportation and that Constitutional right is very clear,” LoPresti said.
According to the county, “sanctuary” policies include rules that prohibit resources from the local government to be used to carry out civil immigration enforcement, according to the same press release.
Santa Clara County filed the lawsuit along with San Francisco and other local jurisdictions across the nation,
On Sunday, Silicon Valley Immigration Committee and other advocacy groups, hosted a protest outside of the Mexican Heritage Plaza.
Diana Valencia, a protester and a resident of San José, said she is very proud that the county is pursuing both lawsuits.
“At every level we need to fight this,” she said. “At every stage, we have to give him such a fight . . . to show that it’s not going to be an easy right to just take away.”
At the protest on Sunday, Valencia and the other protesters marched from Alum Rock Avenue to Story Road to the shopping plazas in the La Placita Tropicana area to march past the local Target store.
On Jan. 26, volunteers from the county’s Rapid Response Network announced San José’s first recent sighting of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers, according to previous reporting from the Spartan Daily on Jan. 28.
Councilmember Peter Ortiz, a representative for District 5 in San José, said he and other volunteers saw employees from Target cooperate with ICE officers on sight, according to the same report from the Spartan Daily.
The ICE officers arrested a female Colombian national on site, according to the same source.
The Rapid Response Network is a community defense project designed
Valencia said she was born in Mexico but moved to San José when she was young. She has lived in the city for around 30 years. She now has a six-year-old daughter.
“I was four and a half, and so I received my immigration status through my stepdad,” she said. “If I wasn’t documented and she was born here, she would not be documented. (I’m) just putting myself in the shoes of so many families.”
According to a report from American Immigration Council, immigrants make up 40% of Santa Clara County’s population, and contribute $5.1 billion to Social Security and $1.8 billion to Medicare in 2021, according to the county’s webpage.
The American Immigration Council is a group that examines and analyzes how immigrants contribute to a region’s labor force, business sector and consumer spending power, according to the same source.
Max Hsiu, a counterprotester at a postinauguration protest that happened at Winchester Boulevard on Jan. 20, said he thinks Trump supports immigrants coming into the country as long as they come in legally.
Hsiu, a Taiwanese American who voted for Trump in 2016, 2020 and 2024, said he does not believe that the president’s goals for immigration are racist.
“(Trump) absolutely supports people from Mexico to come here legally, but they have to do
Huy Tran, an executive director for SIREN and a partner for the Justice at Work Law Group, said Trump’s executive orders on birthright citizenship are related to race because of the 14th Amendment’s history with slavery. The 14th Amendment freed former slaves and granted citizenship to all individuals born on U.S. soil when it was ratified in 1868, according to a webpage from the Library of Congress.
Services, Immigrant Rights and Education Network is a nonprofit that is a community of immigrant rights activists and advocates, according to its webpage.
The nonprofit supports low-income immigrants through education, civic engagement, legal services and more, according to the same source.
Justice at Work is a law firm that provides legal services for workers in low-wage jobs, according to its webpage.
“Whenever somebody says, ‘Look, just get in line. Do things the right way,’ right off the bat, that tells me they have zero understanding of our immigration system,” Tran
Editor s Note: A longer version of this story is available on SJSUNews.com
ALINA TA | SPARTAN DAILY
Protesters march in front of the Mexican Heritage Plaza holding numerous signs to show their support against Trump’s immigration policies on Sunday.
Wellness Center spreads the love
2
#1: The entrance to the Feel the Love Fest activity area opens inside the Student Wellness Center for students to decorate cookies, make friendship bracelets, design Valentine’s cards, and finalize their flower bouquets.
Surya Shivakumar, a graduate student in her second week at San José State, designs a heart-decorated Valentine’s card at the Feel the
#4: A line of students pick out fresh flowers to arrange their own flower bouquets at the Feel the Love Fest. Each flower color has labels with emotional meanings, such as yellow reprenting happiness and red representing passion.
#5: First-year student Manjot Kaur decorates her heart-shaped cookie with pink icing during the Feel the Love Fest.
#6: Jeffrey Mensah, a fifth-year radio-television-film student works on his letter which says “If you are reading this you can read.” 3 5 6
PHOTOS BY DONOVAN NOCHE | SPARTAN DAILY
#2: Zachary Spence (middle) and Maddy Kraatz (right), both dietetics students in their senior year, hand out cookies and snacks to students at the Feel the Love Fest in the Student Wellness Center, representing Cooking Healthy, Eating Well.
#3:
Love Fest in the Student Wellness Center Lounge.
CAMPUS VOICES
SJSU loses at home against SDSU
By Navin Krishnan
The San José State men’s basketball team fell in a nailbiter of atomic proportions to the San Diego State University basketball team in a game that could have gone either way.
San José State (12-14, 5-9 MW) took on San Diego State (16-6, 9-4) Tuesday night and came out with a 69-66 loss.
With 8.8 seconds remaining in the game, SDSU guard Wayne McKinney III drained the game winning free throws to seal the game at 69-66 for the Aztecs.
The Spartan’s leading scorer guard Josh Uduje was out with an elbow and back injury, according to a Twitter post by Jon Rothstein.
Head coach Tim Miles said that although the game was back and forth, the Spartans gave it their all and he was proud of his players’ effort.
“(College games) can swing both ways,” Miles said. “We obviously didn’t meet their aggression (in the second half). Our 17-point lead was wiped off in four minutes. I thought anything can happen.”
SDSU came into the game ranked as a top 20 in defensive efficiency in the nation for the ninth time in the last 14 years.
The Aztecs rank No. 2 ranked team in the nation at defensive field goal percentage at 36.8%
second to only No. 1 seed Tennessee.
History did not bode well for the Spartans, as coming into the game their overall record against SDSU is at 20-1 in favor of the Aztecs since they joined the Mountain West in 2013.
The Spartans faced one of the toughest lineups of the season, as SDSU has five players 6-foot-8 or taller, so the Spartans had to push the pace in order to negate the size of the Aztecs.
Latrell Davis led the Spartans in scoring, tallying 21 points, shooting 7 for 16 from the field and shooting 5 for 11 from beyond the 3-point-line.
SJSU guards Donavan Yap Jr. and Davis pushed the pace early, accounting for 19 of the
Spartans’ first 22 points.
The Spartans’ defensive anchor, center Robert Vaihola, played a major role. When Vaihola wasn’t
good player,” Yap said. “Everybody has ups and downs, not everybody can play perfect. He competes every single day. That’s
We obviously didn’t meet their aggression (in the second half). Our 17-point lead was wiped off in four minutes. I thought anything can happen.
rebounding his presence made SDSU change their shots and served as a key cog in the Spartans’ offensive surge.
“Robert (Vaihola is a
just who (Vaihola) is every single day. He can do that on an everyday basis for sure.”
Vaihola, as part of the SJSU defense, held SDSU to
2 for 6 shooting at the rim in the first half, allowing the Spartans to get out and running and resulted in a 37-20 Spartan lead in the first half.
When Vaihola came out of the game, the Spartans' game plan was simple: push the ball and crash the offensive boards.
Yap and Davis pressured the ball well, forcing 12 Aztec turnovers to the Spartans’ 6.
The Spartans held the Aztecs to 0% shooting from beyond the arc in the first half.
In fact, SJSU dominated SDSU in every statistical category except for free throw shooting, in which the Spartans shot 1 for 6 and the Aztecs shot 8 for 11 going into halftime.
The Aztecs came out the gates blazing in the second half, opening up play with a 15-0 run, tying the game at 37-37 with 15:36 left in the second half. With 5:04 remaining in the game, Yap scored a layup to give the Spartans the lead 57-55, but from that point onward, SDSU’s big men were able to crash the glass. SDSU tallied 7 offensive rebounds and totaled 18 rebounds in the second half. The Spartans are scheduled to play a home game against the Nevada Wolf Pack on Friday at the Provident Credit Union Event Center at 7:00 p.m.
DANIEL POTTER | SPARTAN DAILY
Sports betting is not as fun as it seems
Sports gambling and betting on games could be fun until you lose over $200 due to betting on the wrong team or one of the star players got hurt. Betting on games is slowly ruining sports as well as people’s lives and will be a disaster in our future.
As sports become more popular, so does sports gambling. I never noticed how much the effects of sports gambling were until I went to my first sports game.
and states that legalized betting saw an increase in bankruptcy by 28% according to a Jan. 10 Investopedia article.
When I went to my first Golden State Warriors game in 2022, the fans around me started talking amongst themselves, discussing how much they were betting on the game. When an unexpected foul happened against the Warriors, I saw some fans start screaming at referees while cursing out the players and left the game out of anger.
It was astonishing what betting could do to the people who do it and the effects it could have on players and coaches.
It was estimated that Americans have wagered
It was astonishing what betting could do to the people who do it and the effects it could have on players and coaches.
Sports gambling was originally illegal but in 2018 was legalized by the U.S. Supreme Court- which now makes sports betting legal in 38 states, according to a May. 3 CNN article.
Now, on average households spend $1,100 a year on sports gambling,
about $450 billion on sports games ever since betting got legalized in 2018, according to the same Investopedia article.
People are not watching the games anymore. Instead, they are too focused on a player’s stats and how many rushing yards they had in
the game or touchdowns they caught.
Detroit Lions running back, David Montgomery, had suicidal thoughts throughout his rookie year, he had said in an Oct. 11 Sports Illustrated interview.
The people who play fantasy football were messaging him claiming he ruined their year, according to an Oct. 22 Baylor Lariat article.
The National College Athletic Association (NCAA) looked at athletes in sports that attracted the most betting interest.
The NCAA noticed, when March Madness arrived there were 4,000 comments and posts that were threatening towards athletes, according to a May. 17 ESPN article.
About 15-25% of the abuse that was directed at players, coaches, and officials who are a part of the popular college sports were all related to betting, according to the same ESPN article.
The Super Bowl is one of the most watched events in the country, estimating around 123.7 million average viewership last year, according to a Feb. 11 Yahoo Sport article.
However, it starts causing more people to wager more money. Especially with how famous the Super Bowl is and the high stakes there are in the game.
With the Super Bowl just
passing by, there was an expected record of $1.39B betting legally. This is more than last year’s Super Bowl with $1.25B according to a Feb. 8 NPR article.
No one is watching the game for fun anymore, but
sports betting are becoming too normalized.
Before games are about to start, the advertisements are rolling and you start hearing about all the possible bets that are made.
A research conducted
No one is watching the game for fun anymore, but instead watching it to see if their bets were correct or not.
instead watching it to see if their bets were correct or not. Online casinos have become such a big thing because they let people bet from the access of their homes such as FanDuel, DraftKings and BetMGM.
Online casinos added $7 billion to the sports betting sites, according to a Jan. 14 Legal Sports Report article.
The advertisements for
by CBC’s Marketplace and the University of Bristol had analyzed seven sports games and found that there were betting advertisements that took up 21% of each broadcast they had looked at, according to a Jan. 22 CBC article.
I see sports betting ruining the love of the game just for there to be an increase in money in the
league. I find it interesting that betting companies fund sports companies since it also causes for the game to be corrupted. There have always been rumors about players who secretly placed bets on themselves.
Jontay Porter the former Toronto Raptors player was investigated by the NBA who benched himself early from games to help those who were betting on him to know they could win a lot of money by betting on Porter to be underperforming, according to a Jan. 13 Associated Press News article.
Sports betting could be fun but there are always repercussions to it such as damaging the fun in sports, tarnishing the name of players and causing an unhealthy habit on people’s lifestyles.
