Voto Latino Applauds Federal Ruling Affirming Birthright Citizenship

Washington, D.C. — Voto Latino applauds U.S. District Court Judge Joseph Laplante’s ruling blocking the Trump administration’s executive order targeting birthright citizenship. This ruling affirms the core of the 14th Amendment by protecting the constitutional right of all U.S.-born children, regardless of their parents’ immigration status. 

“Every child born in the United States is an American citizen. Fullstop. This ruling is a reminder of the essential role the courts can still play in upholding constitutional rights despite the Supreme Court’s unfortunate decision limiting nationwide injunctions,” said Diana Castaneda, Voto Latino’s Vice President of Communications. “Today the judicial branch did its job, remaining a necessary check against executive overreach.

This case highlights what’s at stake for millions of American families. More than 17.8 million children in the U.S. have at least one non-citizen parent, and nearly 250,000 babies are born each year to undocumented parents. Stripping U.S.-born children of their citizenship would upend the lives of families who are deeply rooted in and contributing to this country. Protecting these children is not just a legal obligation, it is a moral imperative.”

In making this ruling, Judge Laplante stated that he: 

“… Has no difficulty concluding that the rapid adoption by executive order, without legislation and the attending national debate, of a new government policy of highly questionable constitutionality that would deny citizenship to many thousands of individuals previously granted citizenship under an indisputably longstanding policy, constitutes irreparable harm, and that all class representatives could suffer irreparable harm absent an injunction.”

Voto Latino remains committed to calling on lawmakers to defend the promise of equal protection under the law and rejects the unconstitutional efforts by the Trump Administration to strip citizenship from those who have every right to call this country home.

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Voto Latino is a civic advocacy organization dedicated to educating and empowering the next generation of Latino voters while working to build a more inclusive and representative democracy. Since its founding, Voto Latino has registered nearly two million voters. In 2024, the organization took legal action to protect voting rights, filing multiple lawsuits in Texas, Arizona, and North Carolina to safeguard access to the ballot ahead of the elections.