Washington, Jul 01: The US Supreme Court on Tuesday struck down President Donald Trump’s executive order restricting birthright citizenship, upholding that any person born on American soil is a citizen.
The Supreme Court ruled that the 14th Amendment guarantees birthright citizenship to children born in the US, including those whose parents are in the country unlawfully or only temporarily.
Hours after assuming office for the second term in January last year, Trump issued an executive order that aimed to limit birthright citizenship to people who have at least one legally present parent in the US.
Trump had described the birthright citizenship policy as “a disgrace”, while Vice President JD Vance called it “the dumbest immigration policy in the world”.
On April 1, Trump was present in the Supreme Court to hear the oral arguments in the birthright citizenship case, a first such instance for a sitting president.
Ratified in 1868, the 14th Amendment states that all persons born or naturalised in the US, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the US and of the State wherein they reside.
“Citizenship, then and now, was the right to have rights to freely participate in our political community,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the 5-4 majority ruling.
“Children born in the United States to parents unlawfully or temporarily present are ‘subject to the jurisdiction’ of the United States and are citizens at birth under the Fourteenth Amendment’s Citizenship Clause,” it said.
It’s the second major Trump second-term policy struck down by the Court, following the tariffs ruling in February.
In a dissenting opinion, Justice Clarence Thomas said, “(B)oth the Civil Rights Act and the Citizenship Clause guaranteed citizenship to persons born and domiciled in the United States regardless of their race.”
“Because many potential applications of the President’s Order are consistent with the original public meaning of the Citizenship Clause, I respectfully dissent,” he wrote.
If the Court had upheld Trump’s order, it would have affected the legal status of nearly 250,000 babies born each year in the US, requiring families to prove the citizenship status of their newborns.
Several members of Trump’s close circle, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, FBI Director Kash Patel, and Second Lady Usha Vance, are children of immigrants who benefited from birthright citizenship.
“Today’s ruling is a profound affirmation of who belongs in America,” said Chintan Patel, Executive Director of civic organisation Indian American Impact.
“Indian and South Asian immigrant families are among those most directly threatened by Trump’s executive order — communities navigating long visa backlogs and uncertain immigration timelines, where children are often born here long before their parents have a clear path to permanence.
“Today, the Supreme Court looked at those families and said: your children are American. They belong here,” he said.
Ajay Jain Bhutoria, a prominent Indian-American community leader, described the judgement as a “monumental victory”.
“The Supreme Court’s 5-4 ruling protects birthright citizenship for immigrant families who built their lives here. As America prepares for its 250th anniversary, this decision honours our history as a nation strengthened by immigrants,” he said.
According to Khanderao Kand, President and Chief of Policy and Strategy of Foundation for India and Indian Diaspora Studies (FIIDS), the apex court’s decision provided much-needed certainty for millions of families who have built their lives in America.
The Indian-American community, now nearly 5.2 million strong, includes more than 1.2 million highly skilled professionals and family members waiting in the employment-based green card backlog for years, he noted.
“We hope this moment also renews the focus on modernising our legal immigration system so that those who play by the rules are treated with fairness, certainty, and dignity,” Kand said. ( PTI )
