Birthright citizenship decision: At most it impacts people born February 19, 2025 or later. [View all]

[Ms. Toad]

(b) Subsection (a) of this section shall apply only to persons who are born within the United States after 30 days from the date of this order.

In addition, subsection (a) does not apply to all people born in the United States to non-citizens

Subsection (a)

no department or agency of the United States government shall issue documents recognizing United States citizenship, or accept documents issued by State, local, or other governments or authorities purporting to recognize United States citizenship, to persons: (1) when that person’s mother was unlawfully present in the United States and the father was not a United States citizen or lawful permanent resident at the time of said person’s birth, or (2) when that person’s mother’s presence in the United States at the time of said person’s birth was lawful but temporary (such as, but not limited to, visiting the United States under the auspices of the Visa Waiver Program or visiting on a student, work, or tourist visa) and the father was not a United States citizen or lawful permanent resident at the time of said person’s birth.

Yes, the decision is bad - mainly because it requires anyone fighting a law/executive order/etc. which requires immediate action to fight it in (at least) 50 states. (Potentially in every district - I haven't read the decision yet to see if it requires district by district challenges, or just state by state). That makes it much harder - and much more costly to challenge Trump's burn-the-house-down strategy.)

But it will have near-zero impact on who ICE can grab as non-citizens, since the only people whose citizenship status the lack of a nationwide injunction would impact are (1) infants under 4 months old, (2) born to certain categories of non-citizens, (3) who live in states without injunctions.