Rep. Brian Babin, R-Texas, speaks on the Birthright Citizenship Act at the Capitol, Thursday, Jan. 23, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.)
Rod Lamkey/AP
WASHINGTON — Texas Republicans eagerly answered President Donald Trump’s call to action Tuesday after the Supreme Court struck down his executive order restricting birthright citizenship.
Rep. Brian Babin, R-Woodville, said the overturning of Roe v. Wade demonstrated that one Supreme Court decision is not the final word on an issue.
“Today’s decision only reinforces why Congress must act,” Babin said. “We cannot continue with business as usual while millions of people enter our country illegally and our immigration system is being exploited.”
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Democrats across the country, including in Texas, welcomed the decision, saying the court affirmed a principle that’s been clear for more than 150 years, that people born in the United States are citizens.
“Citizenship is not a favor handed out by a president,” Rep. Sylvia Garcia of Houston posted on X. “Donald Trump cannot erase that right with a Sharpie and an executive order simply because he does not like who a child’s parents are.”
Babin said the court’s ruling that birthright citizenship is protected by the Constitution’s 14th Amendment adds new urgency to legislation he introduced last year with language similar to the executive order the court just rejected.
“I don’t know how anybody with a lick of common sense cannot see what’s happening, what this birthright citizenship is doing to our nation and to our culture and to the rule of law and to the demographics of the electorate,” Babin said. “It’s time to fight.”
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Babin’s bill would limit automatic birthright citizenship to those who have at least one parent who is a citizen, permanent legal resident or lawful immigrant serving in the U.S. military.
Fifteen of the other 23 Texas Republicans in Congress have co-sponsored the measure, including Rep. Keith Self of McKinney.
Self said the Supreme Court ruling should inspire Republicans to quickly address birthright citizenship and many other aspects of immigration and election integrity.
“Congress needs to rise to the occasion and do whatever it takes, pass a bill first, decide if we’re going to have to have a constitutional amendment, but do everything we can to actually overturn it,” Self said. “Now we have to move.”
The court ruled 6-3 to reject Trump’s attempt to limit birthright citizenship. One of the six justices, Brett Kavanaugh, agreed to strike down Trump’s executive order, but disagreed about the reasoning. He cited federal laws that he said grant birthright citizenship.
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The other five justices pointed to the 14th Amendment that states anyone born in the United States and “subject to the jurisdiction thereof” is a citizen.
“Citizenship, then and now, was the right to have rights—to freely participate in our political community. The Framers of the Fourteenth Amendment extended that promise to ‘every free-born person in this land,’” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the opinion. “We keep that promise today.”
The Trump administration and lawmakers pushing to support limiting birthright citizenship say the amendment was never intended to provide citizenship to the children of people in the country temporarily or without legal authorization.
Trump posted on Truth Social the court’s decision leaves the matter up to Congress.
“No long and unwieldy Constitutional Amendment is necessary!” Trump posted. “Congress should start TODAY to work on ending expensive and unfair to our Country, Birthright Citizenship.”
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It’s not clear whether Republicans could pass a bill such as Babin’s on a party-line vote. It would be unlikely to attract significant Democratic support.
It’s also an open question whether the legislation would survive legal challenges given a majority of Supreme Court justices delivered such a robust defense of the 14th Amendment.
Rep. Brandon Gill of Flower Mound, a co-sponsor of Babin’s bill, highlighted other steps he said Congress could take to support Trump’s border policies, assist in deportations and crack down on “birth tourism” in which pregnant women travel to the United States to get their children citizenship.
Such cases represent a tiny fraction of overall births in the United States each year, but critics say they undermine national security and sovereignty.
Gill highlighted his role heading up an Oversight Committee task force looking at abuses of government programs, including incidents of birth tourism.
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“You cannot come into the United States for the sole purpose of giving birth and I think there’s a lot that we could do that would help enforcement,” Gill said.
Sen. John Cornyn, who lost a May GOP runoff to Attorney General Ken Paxton, posted on X touting legislation he introduced earlier this year aimed at stopping birth tourism by adversarial countries such as China and Russia.
“One thing we know for sure: foreign nationals are exploiting our laws and undermining our nation’s sovereignty,” Cornyn posted.
His home state colleague and fellow Republican Sen. Ted Cruz called the decision a “travesty,” saying the court adopted an interpretation that departs from the original meaning of the Constitution and incentivizes illegal immigration.
“Congress retains the authority to clarify federal law, and it should act immediately to restore the original meaning of the Citizenship Clause and protect the integrity of American citizenship,” Cruz said.
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In an interview, Rep. Veronica Escobar of El Paso welcomed the court’s decision and criticized Republican talk of passing legislation to limit birthright citizenship.
“It’s shameful but not surprising and really another reason why these November elections are so critically important,” Escobar said.