Less than two weeks into this second Trump presidency, the fearmongering has already reached fever pitch. “He can’t do it!” the critics have invariably howled in decrying President Donald Trump’s landmark day-one executive order upending the status quo on birthright citizenship for the children of illegal aliens,

The policy was the result of African Americans pushing for decades to be recognized as full citizens and part of a trio of amendments — the 13th, 14th and 15th — that ended U.S. slavery and established citizenship and voting rights for some people of color.