- US Supreme Court upheld birthright citizenship, rejecting Trump's executive order
- Trump said he is ready to bring in legislation and "easily" make it up in Congress
- Justice Department vowed to combat illegal birth tourism and uphold immigration laws
US President Donald Trump has reacted to the Supreme Court upholding the principle of birthright citizenship and said that it is "too bad" for America. However, he is ready to bring in legislation and "easily" make it up in Congress, he wrote on social media on Tuesday.
In a post on X, Trump wrote that the Congress should start working "today" to end the "expensive and unfair" birthright citizenship.
"The Supreme Court upheld Birthright Citizenship, which is too bad for our Country, but we can easily make it up in Congress through Legislation, with the support of the President, that has now been determined during this process. No long and unwieldy Constitutional Amendment is necessary! Congress should start TODAY to work on ending expensive and unfair to our Country, Birthright Citizenship. They will have my Complete and Total Support!", Trump wrote.
On Tuesday, the court rejected an executive order from Trump that sought to deny citizenship to children born in the United States to parents who are in the country illegally or on a temporary basis.
The court, on the final day of its term, ruled 6-3 to maintain the right to American citizenship for nearly everyone born on US soil. Earlier, lower courts blocked the move. The Supreme Court agreed in a majority opinion penned by Chief Justice John Roberts.
"Children born in the United States to parents unlawfully or temporarily present are 'subject to the jurisdiction' of the United States and are citizens at birth under the Fourteenth Amendment's Citizenship Clause," Roberts wrote.
"Citizenship, then and now, was the right to have rights, to freely participate in our political community. The Framers of the Fourteenth Amendment extended that promise to 'every free-born person in this land. We keep that promise today," he wrote.
The Supreme Court's ruling Tuesday makes it clear that it would be necessary to amend the Constitution. Roberts, who wrote the opinion for the court, pointed to the Fourteenth Amendment in the Constitution in ruling that anyone born in the country, with very limited exceptions, is a citizen.
The Justice Department said in a statement that it's "committed to tackling illegal birth tourism schemes by working diligently with US Attorneys across the country to uphold the law."
"Actors seeking to exploit loopholes to obtain automatic citizenship for their children pose a national security threat and will be brought to justice," the department said in a post on X.
The birthright citizenship order, which Trump signed on the first day of his second term, forms part of his administration's broader immigration crackdown. It was also the first of Trump's immigration-related policies to reach the Supreme Court for a final ruling.
