On Wednesday, April 1, 2026, the United States Supreme Court will hear oral argument in Trump v. Barbara, the case that will decide whether President Trump’s executive order restricting birthright citizenship can stand. This is one of the most important constitutional and civil rights fights of our time because it goes to the heart of who is recognized as fully American from the moment of birth.
At issue is an executive order signed on the first day of President Trump’s second term that seeks to deny U.S. citizenship to certain children born in this country to parents who are undocumented or in temporary lawful status. The order has not taken effect because it was challenged immediately by LULAC and partners and blocked by lower courts, and no lower court has accepted the administration’s reading of the 14th Amendment. After an earlier round of Supreme Court litigation focused on injunctions, the justices will now confront the legality of the order itself.
Birthright citizenship is a constitutional guarantee rooted in the 14th Amendment, adopted after the Civil War to overturn Dred Scott, and reaffirmed by the Supreme Court in United States v. Wong Kim Ark in 1898. For well over a century, that principle has stood as a bedrock of American democracy: if you are born in the United States, you belong here, with only very narrow exceptions.
That is why this case matters so deeply. The challengers have argued that the administration’s position could harm tens of thousands of children born every month and cast doubt on the citizenship of millions more. From the start, LULAC and its partners have warned that denying citizenship to U.S.-born children would create a permanent subclass of people born in this country but denied full rights as Americans, a direct attack on families, equality, and the rule of law.
Although the case now before the Court is Trump v. Barbara, LULAC did not wait for this issue to reach the highest court in the land. Through New Hampshire Indonesian Community Support; League of United Latin American Citizens; and Make the Road New York v. Donald J. Trump, LULAC helped bring the first challenge to this administration’s birthright citizenship order. LULAC’s lawsuit charged the administration with flouting the Constitution, congressional intent, and longstanding Supreme Court precedent, and LULAC was the first to challenge this order and has already helped win multiple court injunctions to protect the Constitution’s guarantee of birthright citizenship.
This is exactly why the LULAC Legal Defense Fund is so important. LULAC’s Legal Defense Fund exists to keep our community on the front lines of civil rights litigation, defending immigrant families, protecting voting rights, and advancing equal justice when Latino communities are under attack. The threats to birthright citizenship, due process, and voting rights are not isolated fights; they are connected challenges to our place in this nation and to the promise of equal rights under law.
As members of LULAC, we should all understand what is at stake on April 1. This hearing is about more than one executive order. It is about whether a constitutional promise that has defined American citizenship for generations can be narrowed by presidential decree. LULAC will continue standing with families, communities, and partners in court and beyond to ensure that the promise of equal citizenship remains real for this generation and the next, and to advance and protect Latino civil rights wherever they are threatened.
On Wednesday, LULAC will be at the birthright citizenship hearing and the rally on the steps of the Supreme Court. Show your support by joining us at the rally in Washington, DC, or supporting the work of the LULAC Legal Defense Fund today