Today, the United States Supreme Court ruled in Trump v. Barbara that children born in this country are, and will remain, citizens of the United States at birth under the Fourteenth Amendment.
This decision affirms that being American begins at birth and is tied to this soil; not to race, blood, class, inheritance, or the whims of whoever holds the Executive Office.
For millions of people, including most of our team at LCF Georgia, this decision is personal. Full citizenship means full access: to higher education, to licensed professions, to building a business, to voting on the policies that shape our lives.
Birthright citizenship is the legal expression of the American story and affirms that everyone born on this soil, under this flag, is part of the community that builds and continues evolving the experiment of America. Yet the margin of victory, a single vote, should put us all on alert. Justice Kavanaugh’s opinion leaves the door open to future exclusions, raising the question of who could be relegated to an underclass in this country.
We celebrate that the Court recognized what we have always known: children born here, regardless of their parents’ circumstances, grow up to become the taxpayers, entrepreneurs, and workforce that carry our economy, especially in states like Georgia, where our fastest-growing communities are mixed-status families.
For now, this decision confirms one thing: equality starts at birth.
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