Human Rights First Condemns The Attack on Our Constitutional Right to Birthright Citizenship

Washington, D.C. – Yesterday, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in CASA v. Trump, a case challenging President Trump’s illegal Birthright Citizenship Executive Order. If the Executive Order is allowed to go into effect, the ruling would destabilize the lives of millions of U.S. citizens and migrants alike.

“Birthright citizenship is clearly written into the U.S. Constitution and well established by over 125 years of legal precedent that no President can unilaterally change,” said Human Rights First’s President and CEO Uzra Zeya. “This is not about legal interpretation, but whether our country will create a second-class citizenry based on family lineage. This is not just unconstitutional, but at odds with who we are as Americans.”

In January 2025, the President issued an executive order to deny citizenship to children born in the United States unless at least one parent is a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident. Human Rights First forecasted the harms that this and President Trump’s other executive orders would have on our country.

“Within less than 24 hours of beginning his second term, President Trump attacked one of our most foundational human rights – the right to citizenship,” said Yannick Gill, Senior Counsel, Refugee Advocacy at Human Rights First. “Our rights cannot be determined by our bloodline, race, or immigration status. In addition to discriminating among U.S.-born children on those bases, this executive order would render many newborns stateless, deprived of the protections not just of the United States, but of any nationality.”

Human Rights First calls for the safeguard of all rights afforded under the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution and joins the hundreds of advocates who traveled to the Supreme Court on Thursday in support of birthright citizenship and in opposition to President Trump’s unconstitutional executive order.

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