President Donald Trump’s fight against birthright citizenship continues as the Supreme Court considers a case in their new term. But South Florida immigration groups are already wary of a potential outcome, saying that either way the decision goes, immigrant rights would be chipped away further.
“If they decide to reinterpret the 14th Amendment, it again is going to lead to a conversation of who is good enough,” said Yareliz Mendez-Zamora, the policy coordinator at American Friends Service Committee Florida.
Mendez-Zamora was born here and is considered a birthright citizen since her mother is a Nicaraguan immigrant. Mendez-Zamora says she and many immigrants in South Florida are worried about what the Supreme Court case would mean for future immigration issues, such as TPS and student visas.
“Florida really is, especially when we talk about South Florida, an international demographic,” said Mendez-Zamora. “People who think that this would not affect them, congratulations. It would.”
The concept of birthright citizenship in the U.S., which declares anyone born in the country an American citizen, originated soon after the Civil War. In 1868, Congress ratified the Constitution’s 14th Amendment, in part to ensure that Black people, including former slaves, had citizenship.
“All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States,” the amendment states.
Thirty years later, Wong Kim Ark, a man born in the U.S. to Chinese parents, was refused re-entry into the U.S. after traveling overseas. In his case, the Supreme Court explicitly ruled that the amendment gave citizenship to anyone born in the U.S., no matter their parents’ legal status.
In January 2025, however, Trump signed an executive order to deny citizenship to children who are born to people living in the U.S. illegally or temporarily. The order states that the amendment phrase, “subject to the jurisdiction thereof,” means the U.S. can deny citizenship to babies born to women in the country illegally.
Several federal district courts declared this unconstitutional and issued nationwide injunctions, which prohibited the federal government from enforcing the order anywhere in the United States.
But in the latest birthright citizenship case, Trump v. CASA, the Supreme Court held in June that federal courts could not issue such nationwide injunctions.
The court, however, did not address the constitutionality of the restrictions on birthright citizenship. Now, it will be the main issue.
Over a century of legal precedent may be overturned if the Supreme Court declares the executive order as constitutional. According to the American Immigration Council, millions of U.S.-born children would be at risk of being denied citizenship, creating a vulnerable, stateless population.
“I wouldn’t put it past [the Trump administration] to pull out all the stops in order to see through their immigration agenda,” said Adriana Rivera, the communications director of the Florida Immigrant Coalition.
Rivera says the organization is educating immigrants on misinformation and disinformation about birthright citizenship, specifically the purpose of the 14th Amendment and what the different branches of government are legally allowed to do. But she adds that with the Trump administration’s past record, no one seems to be safe.
“People shouldn’t get comfortable because I think that this is just the first thing that they’re gonna do,” said Rivera. “And then after that, they’ll come after a lot more people.”
The justices have agreed to hear the case but haven’t put it in their calendar as of yet. A decision is expected as late as next summer.
