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Earlier this week, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments on Trump v. Barbara, the case brought against President Trump’s executive order to end the current precedent of birthright citizenship for all persons born in the United States, regardless of their parents’ legal status.
If the Court upholds Trump’s executive order, it would establish a new precedent with profound effects on immigration policy. Trump’s order directs the US government not to grant citizenship to those who were born inside the United States, but whose parents were illegal aliens present in the US unlawfully, or who are legally present but with only a temporary, non-immigrant visa.
The Trump administration argued that the Fourteenth Amendment does not cover the children of foreign nationals who were simply physically present in the country with no authorization to immigrate and remain permanently. The President even personally attended the arguments.
Ending birthright citizenship would also end the anti-American practice of birth tourism. Birth tourism is a scheme in which foreign nationals enter a country while pregnant, right before giving birth, so that when the baby is born, it is automatically a citizen of that country.
There are many different reasons why foreigners practice birth tourism. Some use it as a tool to force their way into a country for themselves or to give their child a better life in a country other than their home country, but it can also be used by adversarial nations to gain greater influence in U.S. politics once these children come of age.
A notable example of how birthright citizenship shapes our political order is the case of former Vice President and 2024 presidential candidate Kamala Harris, whose parents were both foreign nationals present in the United States on temporary, non-immigrant student visas at the time of her birth. Under the proper, original understanding of the Fourteenth Amendment’s citizenship clause as implemented via President Trump’s executive order, she would not have been automatically granted citizenship, and therefore would have been ineligible to run for President or Vice President.
Our consistent position at Texans for Strong Borders is that states and the federal government must work to uphold the original intent of the Fourteenth Amendment’s citizenship clause, which would instead grant automatic citizenship only to the children of U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents who are domiciled in the United States. We hope the Supreme Court upholds this order.