On the day Donald Trump was sworn in as president he signed an executive order titled “Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship.” It states that the United States will not issue documents recognizing U.S. citizenship to a person born in the United States to a mother who is undocumented or whose lawful presence is only temporary, and whose father is not a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident at the time of birth.

This executive order is unconstitutional for at least two reasons. First, the president does not have the authority to establish the requirements of citizenship. That power rests solely with Congress. Article 1, Section 8, Clause 4 of the Constitution states: “The Congress shall have Power … to establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization … throughout the United States.” Congress has done that with its passage of the Immigration and Naturalization Act. Section 1401 of the act states that a person born in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof is a citizen of the United States. The president cannot override this federal statute.

Second, Section 1 of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution states: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States….” When the 14th Amendment was adopted in 1868, birthright citizenship was not a new concept. The Common Law in England had long recognized that one born in England or English colonies was an English citizen. Prior to the adoption of the 14th Amendment, children born in the United States to white immigrants were recognized to be U.S. citizens. The 14th Amendment extended this right to non-white persons.

The Trump administration has argued that persons born in the United States to parents who are only here temporarily or who have no legal status are not subject to the jurisdiction of the United States. These people certainly are. If they commit a crime they can be punished; they can be sued; and they must follow the laws of the local, state and national government. The only exceptions are for the children of diplomats and enemies of the government occupying by conquest. This has been the settled law since the 1898 Supreme Court case of U.S. v. Wong Kim Ark.

Several federal district courts have heard challenges to the Trump administration’s executive order on birthright citizenship, and each one of them has found the order to be unconstitutional. Why then was this executive order signed? Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy Staff Stephen Miller, the architect of Trump’s anti-immigration policy and someone with reported white nationalist leanings, views birthright citizenship as a “major national security threat.”

It is hard to imagine babies in diapers as a national security threat; however, it is not hard to imagine that Stephen Miller is upset at the prospect of babies of color becoming United States citizens. President Trump echoed the same sentiments when he referred to Mexican immigrants as “drug dealers, criminals and rapists,” despite overwhelming evidence that immigrants, both documented and undocumented, have a lower crime rate than U.S. citizens.

The demonization of immigrants and other minority groups follows the playbook adopted by Hitler and other dictatorial regimes. We must resist the current administration’s increasing attempts at authoritarian rule. Peacefully protest. Write to your congressional representatives. Campaign for candidates who believe in our system of checks and balances, and remember to vote. The survival of our democracy is at stake.