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Contact: lppipress@luskin.ucla.edu

New UCLA Analysis Warns of Devastating Health and Social Consequences of Ending Birthright Citizenship
Trump’s executive order could leave millions of children without legal protections, worsening health outcomes and straining public health systems.

LOS ANGELES (February 12, 2025) – A new policy brief from the UCLA Latino Policy and Politics Institute (LPPI), a leader in advancing Latino-focused research and policy solutions, warns that the Trump Administration’s executive order ending birthright citizenship will have devastating and far-reaching consequences—even if courts ultimately strike it down. The analysis – authored by Dr. Lucía Félix Beltrán, Rosario Majano, Ahmad Ismail, Jie Zong, Dr. Silvia R. González, and Dr. Arturo Vargas Bustamante – finds that the policy threatens millions of U.S. citizen children, discourages immigrant families from seeking essential health care, and fuels economic and social instability across the country.

The executive order, signed on January 20, 2025, seeks to deny U.S. citizenship to children born in the country whose parents are undocumented immigrants or hold temporary visas. While the order is currently blocked amid widespread legal challenges, LPPI’s research finds that its effect on immigrant families is already taking hold, driving fear, misinformation, and harmful changes in health-seeking behavior. The findings also challenge the misconception that immigrants burden the healthcare system and instead highlight their essential role in sustaining public programs for all U.S. residents.

“Even if this executive order is overturned, the damage is already happening,” said Félix Beltrán, a senior research fellow at LPPI. “Immigrant families are likely to delay or avoid prenatal care, skip necessary medical visits, and withdraw from public health programs due to fear and uncertainty. These patterns, which we’ve seen before with policies like Public Charge, put immigrant communities, especially Latinos, at a heightened risk of worse birth outcomes and long-term health disparities.”

The authors’ findings include:

• Latino children would be disproportionately affected by changes to birthright citizenship. 
• A hostile political climate towards immigrants leads to lower use of safety net programs and worsens health outcomes. In 2023, close to 12% of adults in immigrant families avoided programs like Medicaid, SNAP, and housing assistance—even though they were eligible.
• Delaying prenatal care out of fear of engaging with the healthcare system can lead to higher costs and worse infant health outcomes. Newborns of undocumented mothers who did not receive prenatal care had twice the postnatal and long-term pediatric care costs compared to those with at least one prenatal visit.
• Despite being less likely to have health insurance and facing restrictions to accessing federal programs like Medicare and Social Security, immigrants contribute more to the U.S. healthcare system than they use. In 2017, immigrants generated a net surplus of $63.2 billion in payments to Medicare, Medicaid, and private insurers, offsetting the $72.2 billion deficit created by U.S.-born citizens, whose healthcare costs exceeded their contributions.
• Latino noncitizens, particularly the undocumented and temporary visa holders, would be the most affected racial and ethnic group if birthright citizenship ends—further destabilizing immigrant and mixed-status families and increasing the risk of statelessness for future generations.

“This policy represents a real threat, disguised as immigration reform,” said Bustamante, faculty director of research at LPPI. “This order fuels a climate of fear that will deter many immigrant and mixed-status families from seeking necessary health care, worsen birth outcomes, and increase long-term medical costs. Even before the policy takes full effect, its psychological and economic toll is already being felt.”

The LPPI report urges policymakers and state governments to mitigate harm by partnering with health care leaders and community-based organizations to take proactive measures to counteract the executive order’s chilling effect. The authors call for state-level protections and increased community outreach to ensure families continue accessing accurate information about essential services available to them.

“Policymakers and advocates must act now to prevent a deeper public health crisis,” added Beltrán. “We need clear public messaging, legal guidance for immigrant families, and strong community partnerships to ensure immigrants do not fear accessing the health care they need.”

Read the full research brief here.

About UCLA Latino Policy and Politics Institute:

The UCLA Latino Policy and Politics Institute is a non-partisan research institute that seeks to inform, engage, and empower Latinos through innovative research and policy analysis. LPPI aims to promote equitable and inclusive policies that address the needs of Latino communities and advance social justice. latino.ucla.edu.