On May 15, the Supreme Court heard CASA v. Trump, a case that could reshape the meaning of citizenship in America.

The following is a statement from Fred Tsao, senior policy counsel at ICIRR regarding the attacks on Trump’s attacks on birthright citizenship:

“The Trump administration’s birthright citizenship executive order threatens to unravel one of the most basic principles of our democracy: birthright citizenship. The administration is attempting to land a baseless attack on the citizenship rights that are clearly stated in the US Constitution and have been clearly upheld by our courts, first in the 1898 Supreme Court ruling in favor of Wong Kim Ark, like me a US-born son of Chinese immigrants, and then repeatedly for the past 127 years.

“The 14th Amendment clearly affirms that anyone born on US soil is a citizen, no matter who their parents were, what their race is, or their immigration status. It's a promise enshrined in the foundational document that is our Constitution.

“President Trump is attempting a direct assault on that constitutional promise, as if he were king ruling by decree. Rather than defend the day one executive order, the Trump administration is asking the Supreme Court to narrow the many nationwide injunctions blocking the order and allow it to proceed in parts of the country where courts have not ruled.  Doing so would fracture our nation's legal identity and sow absolute chaos, where in one state a child is a citizen and in another, they are not. In this nation, the guarantee of US citizenship should equally apply to all.”