Washington:
In a big relief for Indian students and professionals living in the United States on visas and awaiting green cards, the US Supreme Court struck down President Donald Trump’s attempt to restrict birthright citizenship, preserving a constitutional protection for all children born on American soil.
In a 6-3 ruling, the US Supreme Court rejected President Donald Trump‘s executive order, signed the first day of his second administration, which sought to end birthright citizenship for the children of parents present in the country illegally and for tourists visiting only temporarily.
Relief To H-1B Visa, Other Immigrant Families
The decision has particular resonance for the Indian American community, one of the fastest-growing immigrant groups in the United States. Hundreds of thousands of Indian professionals work and study in the country on H-1B visas, L-1 intra-company transfer visas, and F-1 student visas, while more than a million Indians remain in the employment-based green card backlog, making immigration policy and citizenship rights issues of close interest to the community.
Data shows that approximately 3.2 million documented Indian immigrants reside in the United States, forming the second-largest immigrant group nationwide. Apart from that, Indians are also the third-largest undocumented population in the US after those from Mexico and El Salvador. An estimated 725,000 undocumented Indian immigrants reside in the United States.
The Supreme Court ruling ensures US citizenship for any children born to all Indians on H-1B visas, who may themselves have to wait decades for citizenship, and to others on temporary visas, such as students and visitors, whose children born in the US will now be automatically guaranteed citizenship and a lifetime right to live here. The verdict will also ensure birthright citizenship for the children of any undocumented Indian migrant born in the US.
Indian-Americans Welcome The Move
“The ruling is a profound affirmation of who belongs in America. Indians and South Asian immigrant families are among those most directly threatened by Trump’s executive order,” Chinten Patel, the executive director of Indian American Impact, an organisation promoting political involvement by the community, told news agency IANS.
Referring to the decades-long Green Card backlog for Indians on H1B visas, he said their “children are often born here long before their parents have a clear path to permanency”.
“Today the Supreme Court looked at those families and said, ‘Your children are Americans. They belong here,” Patel said.
US Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi said the decision reaffirmed “a fundamental constitutional principle: every child born in the United States is an American citizen”.
“Since its ratification in the wake of the Civil War, the Fourteenth Amendment has enshrined the principles of equal citizenship and equal protection under the law, including its guarantee of birthright citizenship,” he said. “The Supreme Court’s decision makes clear that those constitutional rights cannot be rewritten by executive order because the Constitution, not the president, governs the rights of the American people.”
Among community organisations, the Foundation for India and Indian Diaspora Studies (FIIDS) said the ruling carried particular significance for Indian Americans.
“Birthright citizenship has been a cornerstone of realising the American Dream for immigrants,” said FIIDS President Khanderao Kand. He said the decision would allow “millions of families” to look to the future with greater certainty.
Kand said the ruling was especially important for “the nearly 5.2 million Indian Americans—including more than 1.2 million individuals waiting in the employment-based green card backlog and over 400,000 Indian H-1B professionals who contribute to America’s innovation, competitiveness, and economic growth”.
Indian American leader Bhavini Patel also welcomed the decision, calling it “a beautiful celebration and acknowledgement of the power of the US Constitution”.
“It recognises that if you were born in the United States of America, you are an American,” Patel said. She added that the ruling recognised “the beauty of this country” and reaffirmed that “the fabric of this country is built on its diversity.” Patel also said the decision showed “the American Constitution is alive in its Well.”
The Ruling
In the late 1800s, birthright citizenship was legally expanded to the children of immigrants. In a 6-3 decision, a divided Supreme Court upheld a broad interpretation of birthright citizenship, rejecting Trump’s arguments.
In an opinion by Chief Justice John Roberts, the court held that the long-settled understanding of the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution, adopted after the Civil War, makes anyone born in the U.S. a citizen, with very limited exceptions.
Dissenting Justices Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch and Clarence Thomas would have upheld Trump’s proposed restrictions. The Fourteenth Amendment “was designed and understood to secure equal rights for the freed blacks but has instead been repurposed for political projects that the Reconstruction Congress did not support,” Thomas wrote.
Trump said the decision was “too bad for our Country” and wrongly suggested that Congress could “easily” address it with legislation. The majority decision rests on constitutional grounds. It would take an amendment to overcome the decision.
