The Supreme Court's decision Tuesday to uphold birthright citizenship is bringing relief to many immigrant families across the North State.
Alexander Carl, an immigration attorney with Bolour / Carl Immigration Group, said many of his clients had spent months fearing the court could change citizenship rules after President Donald Trump's executive order sought to deny automatic citizenship to some children born in the U.S.
"There was a lot of concern from individuals that were born in the U.S. and their parents did not have documents, and in other words were undocumented,” Carl said. “If this court went the other way, those people could have found themselves perhaps without status here and been placed in removal proceedings."
The ruling resolves one of the biggest questions facing immigrant families, Carl said, and means virtually all children born in the United States are guaranteed citizenship under the 14th Amendment.
"For now, families in the U.S., including undocumented immigrants and many temporary visa holders, can continue to expect that their children that are born here in the U.S. will be U.S. citizens,” Carl said. “So it does provide certainty for hundreds of thousands of families who otherwise could face significant legal uncertainty."
Carl said the decision also reinforces that a president cannot change a constitutional guarantee through executive action alone.
