'Un-American,' 'Help people already here' - birthright citizenship debate divides NY

Record ID: 1952098

  • Title: 'Un-American,' 'Help people already here' - birthright citizenship debate divides NY
  • Date: 21st January 2025
  • Summary: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (JANUARY 21, 2025) (REUTERS) "BRYANT PARK" INSCRIBED ON STONE / PARK ENTRANCE (SOUNDBITE) (English) NEW YORK LEGAL RECRUITER, MARCUS WILLIAMS, SAYING: "I think our country is built on immigrants. And the reason we have birthright citizenship is to encourage people to move here. And if we want to grow our country, that's the best way to do
  • Embargoed: 4th February 2025 21:40
  • Keywords: Bryant Park Trump Trump administration birthright citzenship immigration migrant
  • Location: VARIOUS
  • City: VARIOUS
  • Country: US
  • Topics: Asylum/Immigration/Refugees,North America,Government/Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA006519121012025RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: With the new administration of Donald Trump rolling out immediate policy pushes on immigration, reaction on the street Tuesday (January 21) ran the gamut from horror to firm support.
    After his inauguration on Monday (January 20), Trump, a Republican, ordered U.S. agencies to refuse to recognize the citizenship of children born in the U.S. if neither their mother or father is a U.S. citizen or legal permanent resident.
    Democratic-led states and civil rights groups filed a slew of lawsuits challenging U.S. President Donald Trump's bid to roll back birthright citizenship on Tuesday in an early bid by his opponents to block his agenda in court.
    Overturning birthright citizenship, "would hurt so many people," said Connecticut resident, Gina Castaldi, while speaking in Bryant Park in Midtown Manhattan. "I feel almost like it's un-American. I mean, we've been a country that has welcomed people. So I feel like if you're born here, I feel like you should be a citizen here."
    Some saw the upsides to restricting the immigration based on birthright citizenship.
    "We could take our money and put it into a lot better situations to help the people who are already here," said New York resident, Christopher. "Birthright citizenship... is a loophole for people to come into the country, have a baby, leave, do whatever they want to do."
    The lawsuits take aim at a central piece of Trump's sweeping immigration crackdown. If allowed to stand, Trump's order would for the first time deny more than 150,000 children born annually in the United States the right to citizenship, said the office of Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell.
    Losing out on citizenship would prevent those individuals from having access to federal programs like Medicaid health insurance and, when they become older, from working lawfully or voting, the states say.
    The lawsuits argue that Trump's executive order violated the right enshrined in the Citizenship Clause of the U.S. Constitution's 14th Amendment that provides that anyone born in the United States is considered a citizen.
    "I would like that they keep the 14th Amendment in the state that it's in," said New York legal recruiter Marcus Williams. "My family was in bondage in this country, and the 14th Amendment was essential and guaranteeing them rights. I'd like to feel secure knowing that those rights continue for all Americans going forward."
    (Production by: Justin Nathanson, Dan Fastenberg)
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