Montgomery, AL – Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall has joined a coalition of 24 states in filing a brief before the U.S. Supreme Court in support of President Donald Trump’s birthright citizenship policy.
The brief backs the federal government’s request for the Supreme Court to review lower court rulings concerning an executive order President Trump issued on his first day in office. The order halted the automatic recognition of U.S. citizenship for individuals born on American soil to illegal immigrants or temporary visitors.
In their filing, the states argue that the Fourteenth Amendment’s Citizenship Clause was originally meant to extend citizenship to freed slaves and their descendants, not to automatically grant citizenship to children of those who are in the country unlawfully or temporarily. The brief further notes that states face substantial costs and public safety challenges associated with illegal immigration.
“The Constitution is not a loophole for illegal immigration,” said Marshall. “The framers of the Fourteenth Amendment did not mean for citizenship to be granted by mere accident of birth. Citizenship belongs to those who share allegiance to our nation, reserved for the children of American citizens and lawful permanent residents, not those present unlawfully or temporarily. President Trump’s order rightly restores the true intent of the Citizenship Clause, and we urge the Supreme Court to affirm that principle.”
The brief was co-led by Tennessee and Iowa and joined by Alabama along with Alaska, Arkansas, Georgia, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, West Virginia, and Wyoming.
