MCLENNAN COUNTY, Texas (KXXV) — The U.S. Supreme Court upheld birthright citizenship in a 6-3 vote Tuesday, confirming children born on U.S. soil will continue to be considered U.S. citizens.
- The ruling comes after President Trump issued an executive order challenging the 14th Amendment's guarantee of citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in the United States
- Waco State Representative Pat Curry and the Heart of Texas Network for Immigrant Rights both expressed support for the ruling
- Despite the ruling, Trump says he supports pursuing new legislation to change birthright citizenship, which would require a two-thirds majority vote in Congress and a three-quarters majority vote in state legislatures.
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BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
The U.S. Supreme Court upheld birthright citizenship in a 6-3 vote Tuesday, confirming that children born on U.S. soil will continue to be considered U.S. citizens.
The ruling comes after President Donald Trump issued an executive order in January saying the 14th Amendment rightly overturned the Supreme Court's decision in the 1845 Dred Scott v. Sandford case, where the court decided enslaved people were not citizens.
Trump also says, "The 14th Amendment was never interpreted to extend citizenship universally to everyone born within the United States."
Waco State Representative Pat Curry believes the decision was the right one.
"I think the Supreme Court got it right," Curry said.
"The 14th Amendment is extremely clear on all persons that are born or naturalized into citizenship in the United States are citizens," Curry said.
The Heart of Texas Network for Immigrant Rights believes the decision was more about the Constitution than immigration — and would have affected thousands of local children.
"These families, which is about 1 out of every 11 children in Waco, or persons in Waco or in a mixed family status. And there's a lot of uncertainty already for those families, but this certainly provides some relief," Blake Burleson said.
While the executive order is not one Curry supported, he believes there needs to be a change in the nation's immigration policies.
"Nobody is talking about bolstering our immigration process and, and letting judges decide, should this person get asylum? Should they be here? Why should they be here, right? And, and so the reality is that it's, you know, it's a little more complicated than that, but immigration needs to be fixed. The borders need to be closed, the borders need to be defended at all costs, and immigration needs," Curry said.
While the Supreme Court upheld birthright citizenship, Trump says he supports changing the law with new legislation — which would still require a two-thirds majority vote in the House and the Senate and a three-quarters majority vote in the state legislature.
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