The Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected President Donald Trump’s attempt to limit birthright citizenship, marking a win for immigration rights advocates in the five boroughs.
In a 6-3 decision, the high court ruled that anyone born in the U.S. — with very limited exceptions — is a citizen.
What You Need To Know
The Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected President Donald Trump’s attempt to limit birthright citizenship
Trump signed an executive order on the first day of his second term declaring that children of people in the U.S. illegally or temporarily aren’t U.S. citizens
More than 250,000 babies born in the U.S. each year would have been affected by the executive order, according to research by the Migration Policy Institute and Penn State University
Harold Solis, an immigration attorney with the nonprofit Make the Road New York, told NY1 he feels vindicated.
“Today’s decision reaffirms our position, and reaffirms what many people in this nation have known for over 150 years to be true,” Solis told NY1.
A woman Make the Road invited to a news conference — who would only give her first name, Abby — said she’s been living in the U.S. for more than 30 years as a non-citizen and has been working under DACA, or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals.
Her children were born in the U.S., and she said the ruling gives her mixed-status family needed relief.
“Every day since that executive order was signed until the day I gave birth, I wondered if my newborn would be considered a U.S. citizen, or what would happen to him? What would his birth certificate say? What country would he belong to? I was anxious, worried, sad,” Abby said.
Trump signed an executive order on the first day of his second term declaring that children of people in the U.S. illegally or temporarily aren’t U.S. citizens. The president attended the Supreme Court’s oral arguments in the case, the first-ever sitting president to do so.
On Monday, he said he would accept the Supreme Court’s decision, but called birthright citizenship “tremendously destructive” and “costly” because he believes it’s ripping off American taxpayers.
Trump wrote on Truth Social on Tuesday after the ruling: “The Supreme Court upheld Birthright Citizenship, which is too bad for our Country, but we can easily make it up in Congress through Legislation…. No long and unwieldy Constitutional Amendment is necessary! Congress should start TODAY to work on ending expensive and unfair to our Country, Birthright Citizenship.”
More than 250,000 babies born in the U.S. each year would have been affected by the executive order, according to research by the Migration Policy Institute and Penn State University.
Murad Awawdeh, the president of the New York Immigration Coalition, believes Trump’s effort to dismantle birthright citizenship is part of his broader immigration enforcement agenda.
“The president may want to continue to fan the flames of hate, but we’re not going to participate in that. What we’re going to continue to do is fight to uphold every single person’s rights in this country,” Awawdeh said.
The restrictions had been blocked by several lower courts, and had not taken effect anywhere in the U.S. The ruling ensures that they won’t in the future.