King Hall Experts Weigh in on Trump's Immigration Agenda

Leading media outlets and others have sought the expertise of UC Davis Law immigration law Professors Kevin R. Johnson and Gabriel “Jack” Chin in assessing President Donald Trump’s aggressive immigration enforcement agenda.

In the first few days of his second term, Trump attempted to revoke birthright citizenship and declared an emergency at the southern border, among many other actions targeting undocumented immigrants and asylum seekers.

Chin spoke to the New York Times,  Christian Science Monitor and Washington Post about Trump’s executive order attempting to block citizenship for U.S.-born children of undocumented immigrants. Trump issued the order Jan. 20, his first day back in office. Chin has addressed birthright citizenship in his scholarship, including in a 2021 UC Davis Law Review article written with Albany Law Professor Paul Finkelman. 

Curbing birthright citizenship – historically viewed as guaranteed under the 14th Amendment – would be a “heavy lift” for Trump, Chin told the Monitor. (California and 21 other states already have sued to block the order). 

But even though the order likely will fail in court, “there can be a lot of suffering between when a test case begins and a test case reaches final results,” Chin told the Times as part of a story focused on the concerns of undocumented women who intend to give birth in the United States. The Times also cited Chin's UC Davis Law article in an opinion piece written by columnist Jamelle Bouie.

Speaking to the Post about what ending birthright citizenship might look like, Chin said implementing a new process for identifying U.S. citizens at birth could lead to big mistakes.

“When you create a complex system like this one over something so fundamental, you are inviting tragic errors,” Chin said. Chin also spoke to San Francisco’s ABC7 news for a story about a San Francisco Chinatown resident's role in establishing birthright citizenship, and talked to the Chinese-language World Journal about Trump’s immigration enforcement actions.

Interviewed about birthright citizenship by the Sacramento Bee and Capital Public Radio’s Insight with Vicki Gonzalez, Johnson said the U.S. Supreme Court, despite its conservative majority, likely would rule against Trump.

“If he ends up losing in the Supreme Court, as he has in the past, he will say ‘The Supreme Court stopped me from delivering on my promise to you -- it’s not my fault,’” Johnson told Insight.

Johnson spoke to the the San Francisco Chronicle, Los Angeles Times and Wisconsin Public Radio about a Trump administration threat to track and potentially prosecute officials in "sanctuary cities" who do not cooperate with Trump's policies.

Johnson told the Chronicle and Times that such threats are “little more than a scare tactic,” and “saber rattling,” but noted to Wisconsin Public Radio that that even though it is “very unlikely” local or state officials would be prosecuted for failure to cooperate, the Trump administration’s messaging is “being interpreted by the immigrant community as a clear message that they’re under attack and vulnerable and basically bad things may happen.”

Johnson also participated in Bay Area public radio station KALW’s special Jan. 21 event “Project 2025 Arrives – Immigration and the Justice System.” 

In the days before Trump took office, Johnson lent historical context to a ABC7 News Bay Area report on how mass deportations under Trump could play out. Johnson also spoke about the history of mass deportations at a Jan. 17 San Francisco event at which state Sen. Josh Becker (D-Menlo Park) and Assemblywoman Liz Ortega (D-Hayward) also spoke. Author of a 2005 Pace Law Review article on the so-called Mexican Repatriation of the 1930s, Johnson has addressed the topic often in recent months amid Trump's threats to deport millions of undocumented immigrants.

Chin is a Martin Luther King Jr. Professor of Law and holder of the Edward L. Barrett Jr. Endowed Chair at UC Davis School of Law. He is a prolific and much-cited criminal and immigration law scholar whose work has addressed many of the most pressing social issues of our time.

Johnson is a distinguished professor of law, Mabie-Apallas Professor of Public Interest Law, and Martin Luther King Jr. Professor of Law. Johnson also has an appointment as professor of Chicana/o studies at UC Davis. He served as dean of UC Davis Law from 2008 to 2024. Johnson is an internationally recognized scholar in the fields of immigration law and policy, refugee law, and civil rights.

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