CAPAC Chair Meng Issues Statement on Supreme Court Hearing Birthright Citizenship Case

WASHINGTON, D.C. —  Today, Rep. Grace Meng (NY-06), Chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, released the following statement as the U.S. Supreme Court hears oral arguments in Trump v. Barbara regarding the legality of President Trump’s executive order seeking to end birthright citizenship:

“For more than a century, birthright citizenship has been Supreme Court precedent established by the 1898 case United States v. Wong Kim Ark. In that landmark decision, the Court made clear that Wong Kim Ark, the U.S.-born son of Chinese immigrants, was an American citizen under the Fourteenth Amendment.

“Now, President Trump is actively working to dismantle this longstanding precedent and redefine who gets to be an American. His executive order to end birthright citizenship is plainly unconstitutional, and the very fact that this settled law is being questioned is a deeply troubling moment for our country.

“As the daughter of immigrants—like millions of Americans across the country—this is deeply personal to me. Birthright citizenship is the bedrock of our belonging; it is how we have been able to build our lives and call this country home. It is the unequivocal declaration that we are American.

“We cannot allow this administration to trample on the Constitution to advance their dangerous and exclusionary vision of America. Birthright citizenship is a fundamental promise of the American Dream, and we will not abandon that promise without a fight.”

BACKGROUND:

CAPAC Chair Grace Meng led hundreds of her Democratic colleagues in defending the constitutional principle of birthright citizenship in cases before the U.S. Supreme Court. The Members filed amici curiae (or friends of the court) briefs that presented overwhelming evidence that Trump’s day-one order to nullify birthright citizenship violates not just the Constitution and over a century of Supreme Court rulings, but also laws passed by Congress that have repeatedly guaranteed citizenship to children born in America.

The amicus briefs were filed for Trump v. Barbara, the case that is currently before the U.S. Supreme Court, as well as State of Washington, et al. v. Trump, et al. and other birthright citizenship cases listed here.

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