Republican lawmakers are mobilizing to strip citizenship rights from children born on U.S. soil just one day after the Supreme Court struck down President Trump's executive order attempting the same. Sen. Bernie Moreno, a Trump ally, announced Tuesday he'd introduce legislation targeting the 14th Amendment's birthright citizenship guarantee, escalating a campaign that threatens the constitutional status of millions of American families.
Trump posted on social media that "Congress should start TODAY to work on ending expensive and unfair to our Country, Birthright Citizenship." The directive came as the administration scrambled to salvage its immigration agenda following the judicial rebuke.
Leadership Backs Constitutional Overhaul
Speaker Mike Johnson signaled support for the effort despite acknowledging its steep constitutional hurdles. "Well, we're looking at that," Johnson said, adding that he believed "the court made the wrong decision." He warned that reversing birthright citizenship "may require a constitutional amendment," calling it "a large undertaking."
That's an understatement. Such a measure would require the support of two-thirds of both chambers of Congress and ratification by three-fourths of states—a threshold that's proven nearly insurmountable in modern American politics. The procedural reality hasn't deterred Republican proponents, who've introduced several similar measures this Congress in both the House and Senate.
Citing 1993 Precedent
Moreno defended his proposal by citing a similar bill from 33 years ago introduced by the late former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Democrat who later reversed his position and became a champion of immigrant rights. The reference appears designed to pressure current Democrats into supporting the measure or facing accusations of partisan inconsistency.
Several other similar measures have been introduced this Congress in the House and Senate, though none have advanced beyond committee. The renewed push comes as Trump and his allies seek to maintain momentum on immigration enforcement despite mounting legal setbacks.
Constitutional Protections at Stake
The 14th Amendment, ratified in 1868, guarantees that "all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States." The provision was designed to ensure citizenship for formerly enslaved people and their descendants, establishing a clear legal standard that's endured for more than 150 years.
Legal scholars across the political spectrum have warned that eliminating birthright citizenship would create a permanent underclass of stateless individuals born on American soil. The policy change would disproportionately affect children of immigrants, including those whose parents are in the country legally but haven't yet obtained citizenship themselves.
The Supreme Court's decision to strike down Trump's executive order one day ago reaffirmed that birthright citizenship can't be eliminated through presidential action alone. Now Republicans are testing whether they can marshal the extraordinary supermajorities needed for a constitutional amendment—or whether the effort is primarily designed to energize their political base ahead of upcoming elections.
Why This Matters:
The push to eliminate birthright citizenship represents an assault on one of America's foundational constitutional principles and threatens to create a two-tiered system where children born on the same soil have different rights based on their parents' immigration status. The 14th Amendment's guarantee has provided legal certainty and equal protection for more than a century, preventing the creation of hereditary underclasses common in other nations. If successful, the effort would affect not just undocumented immigrants' children but also those born to legal residents, visa holders, and others who haven't completed the naturalization process. The proposal disproportionately targets Latino and Asian American communities, raising fundamental questions about who gets to be American and whether citizenship will become an inherited privilege rather than a birthright. The constitutional amendment process's steep requirements exist precisely to prevent momentary political majorities from dismantling core civil rights protections.