Trump’s move has sparked a lot of concern among Indian immigrants, especially among those who are on temporary visas and are holding undocumented statuses, as it could directly impact their children's citizenship status.
Hyderabad: The United States Supreme Court on Thursday held an emergency hearing to deliberate on President Donald Trump’s executive order aimed at ending birthright citizenship for children born in the US to non-citizen parents.
Trump’s move has sparked a lot of concern among Indian immigrants, especially among those who are on temporary visas and are holding undocumented statuses, as it could directly impact their children's citizenship status.
Nine Supreme Court judges, who heard the arguments, appeared divided during the proceedings. After Trump signed the executive orders, nearly 22 states challenged his orders and three different district courts invalidated his orders.
The district courts, along with other state-wide courts, issued nationwide injunctions on Trump’s orders, which was discussed in length at the Supreme Court on Tuesday. The Supreme Court judges, along with Solicitor General D. John Sauer, deliberated on the order and its implications on people.
The judges grilled the Solicitor General on the ramifications of Trump’s orders. Justice Brett Kavanaugh asked Sauer “What do hospitals do with a newborn? What do states do with a newborn?” In his reply, Sauer said: “Federal officials have to figure it out”. When pressed further, he simply said: “We just don’t know”.
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson said "Your argument seems to turn our justice system into a catch-me-if-you-can kind of regime, where everybody has to have a lawyer and file a lawsuit in order for the government to stop violating people's rights."
While liberal justices warned that limiting these injunctions could lead to inconsistent enforcement of laws across states, potentially creating a patchwork of citizenship standards. Even the conservative justices did not seem in full support of abolishing nationwide injunctions either, leaving room for the executive order to be stopped dead in its tracks.
Removing birthright citizenship has caused a major stir among Indian immigrants in the States. Many Indian nationals reside in the US on H-1B visas or other temporary statuses, often accompanied by families. The prospect of their US-born children being denied citizenship introduces uncertainty and concern.
Kathi Deepa, a seven-month-pregnant woman from Hyderabad, currently living in California, said “The entire argument around President Trump’s order is unbalanced. They are clearly contradicting the 14th Amendment, which grants automatic citizenship to anyone born on US soil.”
“The Supreme Court has already given a judgement way back in the 1980s stating that no matter who the parents are and where they came from, children born in the US are automatically US citizens. The courts will identify all this and will be in support of us”, she added.
