AILA Welcomes Supreme Court Ruling Upholding Constitutionally Guaranteed Birthright Citizenship

WASHINGTON, DC – The American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) welcomed the Supreme Court decision 6-3 in Trump v. Barbara, upholding the principle of birthright citizenship.

AILA President Jeff Joseph stated, “As our nation’s 250th anniversary approaches, it’s worth remembering that the promise of birthright citizenship was not written into our founding document. It was added after the Civil War to repudiate the Supreme Court’s Dred Scott decision, which had held that Black people whose ancestors were enslaved could never be citizens. The Fourteenth Amendment affirmed that in America, belonging is rooted in being born on this country’s soil, under our nation’s laws and equal in dignity, not in ancestry or inherited status. While not legally groundbreaking, today’s decision is nonetheless historic in its clear confirmation of well-settled law that the Fourteenth Amendment’s Citizenship Clause guarantees citizenship to children born in the United States regardless of their parents’ immigration status.”

AILA Executive Director Ben Johnson added, “Today the Court firmly rejects the radical legal view advanced by the President that was never supported in a legitimate reading of the law but was the ugly outgrowth of a xenophobic ideology intended to further exclude and render immigrants to permanent second class status. Ensuring this great nation remains faithful to its foundational values has always required the vigilance of its people. Every day since our own founding 80 years ago, AILA’s members have drawn upon the force of law and the Constitution to protect their immigrant clients and the communities and businesses that depend upon them. We are proud that the constitutional bulwark of the nation has withstood another challenge.”