U.S. Supreme Court Rejects Trump Order Restricting Birthright Citizenship, Alito Warns National Security Threat

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that President Donald Trump’s executive order restricting birthright citizenship was unconstitutional, rejecting the bid to deny citizenship to children born in the United States to parents who were “unlawfully or temporarily present.”

“The US Supreme Court has struck down President Donald Trump’s attempt to end the longstanding practice of granting citizenship to anyone born on United States soil, delivering a major blow to his attempts to overhaul immigration policy”

Al Jazeera

Chief Justice John Roberts wrote that children born in the U.S. to parents unlawfully or temporarily present are “citizens at birth” under the Fourteenth Amendment’s Citizenship Clause.

Al Jazeera

In dissent, Justice Samuel Alito warned that the ruling threatens America’s national security by extending citizenship to children he described as “birth tourists.”

The decision came as Trump said on Truth Social that the Supreme Court upheld birthright citizenship was “too bad for our Country,” but that he would seek to “make it up in Congress through Legislation.”

Justice Neil Gorsuch dissented in a brief written dissent, saying he believes Trump’s executive order is “fully lawful” on its face but that he would still be open to a constitutional challenge later if the administration applied it to deny citizenship to children whose parents had “unlawfully made their permanent home in the country.”

Gorsuch wrote, “I harbor doubts,” about the administration’s argument that denying citizenship to that first group “can survive any possible legal challenge,” and he asked, “Is a child born here to parents who have long chosen to make this Nation their permanent home not a citizen under the Fourteenth Amendment solely because his parents’ presence violates statutory law?”

BBC

After the Supreme Court defeat, the Justice Department directed prosecutors to prioritize “birth tourism schemes,” with a memo telling criminal division staff to “prioritize the investigation and prosecution of birth tourism schemes.”

The Justice Department’s memo said the Department would zealously protect citizenship by investigating and prosecuting those who “fraudulently exploit our immigration system,” while Politico reported White House aides and allies were discussing options targeting women who come to the U.S. to give birth so their child will automatically be a citizen.

The ruling left Trump’s administration looking for other paths, with Politico reporting that the administration’s zeal to curtail illegal immigration was being redirected into policies targeting women who come to the U.S. to give birth so their child will automatically be a citizen.

“The Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld the right to citizenship for people born in the United States, rejecting an executive order by President Donald Trump that sought to undo that long-standing constitutional principle for children born to many immigrants”

CNBC

Politico cited a Justice Department memo estimating that up to 26,000 babies born in the U.S. annually could be attributed to women coming to the U.S. solely to give birth, out of more than 3.5 million yearly U.S. births.

Acting attorney general Todd Blanche told reporters, “Everybody should agree that it’s a violation of our laws if your intent in coming here, if you’re pregnant, is to have a child to become a U.S. citizen,” as the Justice Department focused on stopping networks that help pregnant foreigners come to the U.S. to give birth.

Meanwhile, Fox News reported Border czar Tom Homan said, “Birthright citizenship has always been a major driver for illegal immigration,” and warned it was “a national security concern,” adding that “We have nationals from China and Russia coming in the thousands, having a baby and leaving.”