Early last year, a woman named Liza and her husband were busy preparing for the birth of their child. On top of the normal stresses of pregnancy, they faced another, less typical concern: that their baby would be stateless(无国籍的). The couple had left Russia for the United States. Liza is legally in the U.S. on a temporary status, and her husband is seeking asylum(庇护). They could in theory have applied for Russian citizenship for the baby at the consulate, though Liza told me that would have been risky, in light of(考虑到，鉴于) her husband’s asylum application.
去年年初，一位名叫丽莎的女子和丈夫正忙着为孩子的出生做准备。除了怀孕通常带来的压力，他们还面临另一个不太常见的担忧：孩子会成为无国籍人士。这对夫妇离开俄罗斯来到美国。丽莎以临时身份合法居留美国，她的丈夫正在寻求庇护。理论上，他们可以在领事馆为孩子申请俄罗斯国籍，但丽莎告诉我，考虑到丈夫的庇护申请，那样做会有风险。
Before January 20, 2025, this would not have been a concern: Although Liza and her husband are Russian citizens, their baby, born on American soil, would have automatically received U.S. citizenship under the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution. But an executive order(行政命令) signed by Donald Trump on the day of his second inauguration had called that guarantee into question. After February 19, according to the order, only children with at least one biological parent who was either a U.S. citizen or a green-card holder(绿卡持有者) could be legally considered American. That would have left Liza’s baby without U.S. citizenship—or citizenship anywhere at all. Liza, who asked that I withhold(隐瞒，保留) her last name out of concern for her family’s safety, worried that her child would be entirely without legal protection if she and her husband were deport(驱逐出境)ed.
在2025年1月20日之前，这本来不成问题：尽管丽莎和丈夫是俄罗斯公民，但他们的孩子在美国领土上出生，根据宪法第十四修正案，将自动获得美国公民身份。但唐纳德·特朗普在第二个就职典礼当天签署的一项行政命令，让这一保障受到了质疑。根据该命令，2月19日之后，只有至少一位亲生父母是美国公民或绿卡持有者的孩子，才能在法律上被视为美国人。这将使丽莎的孩子既没有美国公民身份，也没有任何其他国家的公民身份。丽莎因担心家人的安全而要求我隐去她的姓氏，她担心如果自己和丈夫被驱逐出境，孩子将完全得不到法律保护。
“I was really, really anxious,” she said. “I was even blaming myself, like, Why didn’t I have the baby sooner? ” On January 21, Liza and four other expectant mother(孕妇)s joined a lawsuit(诉讼) against the order—one of several challenges to Trump’s decree(政令，法令). (The plaintiff(原告)s sued using pseudonym(化名，笔名)s or only their first names, to protect their identities.) Within days, federal courts blocked the policy from going into effect.
“我当时真的非常非常焦虑，”她说。“我甚至责怪自己，心想，我为什么不早点生孩子？”1月21日，丽莎和其他四位准妈妈一起加入了一项针对该命令的诉讼——这是对特朗普政令的几项挑战之一。（原告使用化名或仅用名字提起诉讼，以保护身份。）几天之内，联邦法院阻止了该政策生效。