{"id":356281,"date":"2026-06-30T21:12:20","date_gmt":"2026-06-30T21:12:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/356281\/"},"modified":"2026-06-30T21:12:20","modified_gmt":"2026-06-30T21:12:20","slug":"houston-advocates-call-supreme-court-birthright-ruling-a-major-victory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/356281\/","title":{"rendered":"Houston advocates call Supreme Court birthright ruling a major victory"},"content":{"rendered":"

Houston-area immigration lawyers and advocacy groups celebrated a rare victory Tuesday after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected President Donald Trump\u2019s effort to\u00a0end birthright citizenship for children born to immigrants<\/a> living in the country illegally.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Their celebration came as Republican officials in Texas criticized the ruling as a threat to sovereignty and security. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n

MORE COVERAGE: Greg Abbott says SCOTUS \u2018missed opportunity\u2019 in upholding birthright citizenship<\/a><\/p>\n

The decision by the nation\u2019s high court concluded a 17-month legal fight that started when Trump issued an executive order reinterpreting the 158-year-old provision immediately after he took office.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis could have had huge implications and repercussions for many people. It would have been a nightmare,\u201d said Ruby Powers, a Houston-based immigration attorney. \u201cLike many of the Trump administration policies, it was meant to cause a lot of fear and chaos.\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n

The 6-3 ruling saw three conservative justices join the court\u2019s more liberal faction. \u201cChildren born in the United States to parents unlawfully or temporarily present are \u2018subject to the jurisdiction\u2019 of the United States and are citizens,\u201d the court\u2019s opinion stated.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Courts stall Trump\u2019s order to end birthright citizenship. Houston is among most affected, data shows.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

Had the president\u2019s executive order been allowed to stand, Powers said that it would have sowed confusion for families and also government officials tasked with implementing a dramatic change to federal policy. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would have been a nightmare for the Department of State, for attorneys, for individuals. It could have left a lot of people stateless,\u201d Powers said. \u201cThe Supreme Court made the right decision.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

As of 2024, more than 2,084,000 children with at least one immigrant parent were born in Texas<\/a>, according to the Migration Policy Institute. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n

FIEL Houston, an immigrant advocacy group, celebrated the decision as a rejection of Trump\u2019s efforts to \u201ccircumvent\u201d the U.S. Constitution.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter two years of limbo, the Supreme Court\u202fhas ratified the meaning\u202fof the 14th Amendment\u202fand said that anyone born in the U.S. is subject to the 14th Amendment,\u201d\u00a0FIEL executive director Cesar Espinosa said in a statement. \u201cWe continue to work to uplift our community, and we continue to believe\u202fin the Constitution of the United States, reiterating\u202fthat no administration can create laws that benefit their political agenda.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2018We must remain vigilant\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n

Others were more tempered in their reactions. They cheered the decision while also warning that future challenges to the U.S. Constitution are likely and policies targeting immigrant communities will likely continue.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n

\u201cI am relieved the court rejected this unconstitutional power grab. But the fact that such an extreme attack reached the Supreme Court should concern everyone who values equal protection under the law,\u201d U.S. Rep. Sylvia Garcia, D-Houston, said in a statement. “We must remain vigilant and continue to defend the Constitution against any president who believes he is above it.” \u00a0<\/p>\n

The Texas Civil Rights Project<\/a> said the decision reaffirms the belief that birthright citizenship is \u201cfundamental to the American experiment\u201d while urging citizens to remain engaged.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Supreme Court\u2019s decision to uphold our Constitution displays what we\u2019ve always known to be true: All people born in the United States are American citizens,\u201d said Rochelle Garza, the president of the Texas Civil Rights Project. \u201cWe must remain vigilant to ensure that all citizens are afforded the protections of our country and that our most basic constitutional rights never be denied.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Texas<\/p>\n

Texas Governor Greg Abbott speaks at the Texas GOP convention in the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston Friday, June 12, 2026.<\/p>\n

Melissa Phillip\/Houston Chronicle<\/p>\n

\u2018A magnet for illegal immigration\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n

Texas Republicans wasted no time in slamming the high court on the decision they allege will fuel more unauthorized immigration. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said the court missed an opportunity to \u201crestore the original meaning of the 14th Amendment.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cBirthright citizenship has become a powerful magnet for illegal immigration that will forever change our nation if left unaddressed,\u201d Abbott posted on X<\/a>. \u201cAutomatic citizenship for children born to parents in the United States illegally or only\u202ftemporarily is an absurdity that\u202fwas never contemplated by our Constitution nor agreed to by the American people.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, called the decision a \u201ctravesty\u201d and urged Congress to act to reverse the long-standing policy.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Court adopted an interpretation that departs from the original meaning of the Constitution and incentivizes illegal immigration,\u201d Cruz said in a statement. \u201cCongress 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.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n

Outgoing U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, used the decision to tout his legislation intended to stop \u201cbirth tourism\u201d by foreign countries he said are adversaries to the United States. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cOne thing we know for sure: foreign nationals are exploiting our laws and undermining our nation\u2019s sovereignty,\u201d he posted.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Houston-area immigration lawyers and advocacy groups celebrated a rare victory Tuesday after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected President…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":354096,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[1505,56,58,57],"class_list":["post-356281","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston","tag-hc-politics","tag-houston","tag-houston-headlines","tag-houston-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356281","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=356281"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356281\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/354096"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=356281"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=356281"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=356281"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}