Stark differences in reactions to the preservation of birthright citizenship in the United States highlight the expanding chasm of political polarization among Americans. And it comes the very week the nation celebrates its 250th anniversary.
The reactions follow Tuesday’s 6-3 decision by the U.S. Supreme Court that all babies born in the U.S. are citizens. The ruling upholds the Fourteenth Amendment’s guarantee of birthright citizenship, ratified 158 years ago, in the aftermath of the Civil War to ensure that former slaves would be citizens.
It has now been 17 months since President Donald Trump signed Executive Order 144160 on the first day of his second term, on January 20, 2025. That order declared children born to parents in the United States illegally are not U.S. citizens. Court challenges immediately followed, ultimately leading to the High Court’s ruling that President Trump’s executive order was unconstitutional.
Democratic Congressman Cleo Fields, of Louisiana’s [now redrawn] 6th Congressional District, says he’s pleased with the ruling. “ I think the Supreme Court ruled the only way they could. At the end of the day, the Constitution is pretty clear. If you're born in the United States of America, and you're not one of the kids of a diplomat, you shall be a citizen of the United States of America.”
But Republican Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, who represents Louisiana’s 4th Congressional District, says he’s very disappointed and the U.S has become a destination for birthing tourism. “A trend where people will just come, and you just come onto the soil and have your child, and then they're, they're able to avail themselves of the welfare state and everything else. It's, it's been abused. To change the constitution it would take a two-thirds majority of both chambers of Congress and three-fourths of the states to ratify an amendment.”
Yet Speaker Johnson’s claim of so-called ‘birthing tourism’ is highly controversial. Estimates vary widely on its prevalence. For example, according a review of U.S. Census Bureau data, up to 26,000 babies born in the United States annually could be attributed to birth tourism. But when comparing that figure to the 3,500,000 U.S. births yearly, the percentage of tourist births totals less than 1% [0.74%].
Yet, some critics have characterized the 26,000 baby figure as highly inflated. They point instead to a 2024 report by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which reported almost 9,600 babies born in the United States and U.S. territories to foreign mothers who listed their official address as outside the United States or its territories. With 3,700,000 overall U.S. births in 2024, that represents just 0.26%.
Texas Reactions to High Court Ruling
Texas is home to roughly 750,000 children with non-citizen parents. It’s one of the largest immigrant communities in the nation. Texas Public Radio spoke with Cody Wofsy, the Deputy Director at the ACLU, about the Supreme Court ruling. “The Trump administration's assaults on immigrant communities and mixed status families have been relentless, but today we held the line.”
But Texas governor Greg Abbott called the Supreme Court’s decision to preserve birthright citizenship a quote, “missed opportunity” to end what he called a powerful magnet for illegal immigration. That sentiment echoes the very same remarks made by President Trump regarding birthright citizenship.
The ‘magnet’ controversy often refers to the belief that having a citizen child makes it harder for the government to deport the undocumented parents. While it does not create automatic deportation protection, the child citizen’s presence can serve as part of a deportation defense strategy to remain in the country.
Factors in a legal case may include: Whether you entered the country illegally, the age of the child or children, the presence of any criminal history and connections to the country.
