Attorney General Alan Wilson defends President Trump’s Executive Order on birthright citizenship

(COLUMBIA, S.C.) – South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson joined 18 other state attorneys general in filing a friend-of-the-court brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, supporting President Trump’s Executive Order that clarifies the limits of birthright citizenship under the Fourteenth Amendment. It is beyond time for the courts to set the record straight with a legal clarification about who is entitled to U.S. citizenship.

"For decades, open-border policies have placed enormous burdens on states, forcing taxpayers to fund services for individuals who are here illegally,” said Attorney General Wilson. “This executive order restores the original understanding of the drafters who implemented the Fourteenth Amendment and ensures that citizenship is not exploited by those who enter the country unlawfully. For too long, politicians have been too scared to address the abuse of birthright citizenship, but this Executive Order finally brings much-needed clarity and enforcement to the issue.” 

The brief affirms that President Trump’s Executive Order, Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship, is constitutional and necessary to curb the incentives currently driving illegal immigration and birth tourism. It does that by mandating that a child born in the United States can only be granted U.S. citizenship if at least one parent is a lawful permanent resident.  

The brief emphasizes that the Constitution’s Citizenship Clause was never intended by the Founders to grant automatic citizenship to individuals born to non-citizen parents. One of the original purposes of the Citizenship Clause was to prevent the children of foreign diplomats who were born in the United States from receiving American citizenship. That principle has been muddled in recent decades and now is the time to realign the Fourteenth Amendment’s original meaning with the undeniable realities of illegal immigration facing the United States today.  

Under the Biden administration, Americans saw firsthand how one administration’s misinterpretation of the Constitution can create one of the biggest national security crises in our nation’s history. Years of kicking the can down the road have led to a huge strain on state resources, with states paying billions of dollars for the costs of illegal immigration each year. Whether it's for education, welfare, or healthcare, states are paying exorbitant amounts of money each year to keep up. Texas, for example, pays over $850 million per year because of illegal immigration. On top of the cost to taxpayers are the risks to our national security.  

The states joining South Carolina in the brief are Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming. 

You can read the full brief here.