Following an executive order from President Donald Trump seeking to limit birthright citizenship, Notre Dame professor Amy Hsin has joined a group of 10 social scientists in filing an amicus brief with the Supreme Court.
Hsin said the order sought to end automatic citizenship for children born in the United States whose parents are undocumented or hold temporary legal status.
“One of the first executive orders that was issued by Donald Trump was to end birthright citizenship, for any child born in the United States whose parents were undocumented or on some sort of temporary status, for example, student visas,” Hsin said. “So if both parents were on a student visa and their child was born in the United States, they would not get automatic citizenship.”
The American Civil Liberties Union, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and other civil rights organizations challenged the order.
Hsin said she was part of a group of scholars who wrote an amicus brief on behalf of social scientists who study birthright citizenship. She said more than 100 immigration scholars signed the brief.
According to Hsin, the brief “surveys the academic literature” on “the effects of birthright citizenship for the individuals who obtain it, their families and society.”
She believes that revoking birthright citizenship would have significant consequences for children born in the United States.
“We know that the revoking of birthright citizenship would basically strip citizenship for every 1 in 18 children born in the United States going forward,” Hsin said. “Whatever you think about undocumented immigration, it would punish the children by denying them citizenship. Denying them citizenship would mean that they also grow up in this country to be undocumented.”
Hsin said the loss of citizenship would have “terrible consequences” for labor markets, poverty, mental health and sense of belonging. She added that the effects on families would also affect broader society.
“The ending of birthright citizenship would actually increase the population of undocumented individuals in the United States, leading to a permanent underclass of individuals with no access, with very little ability to obtain citizenship in the future,” Hsin said.
Rick Garnett, a professor in the Notre Dame Law School who has previously filed amicus briefs, explained the legal role of an amicus brief.
“An amicus brief refers to an amicus curiae brief, which means friend of the court,” Garnett said. “An amicus brief is a brief filed by a person or entity who is not a party to the case, but who is interested in the matter and has, in theory, something useful to contribute to the court’s work or, in theory, a perspective to supplement the arguments of the parties.”
Garnett said rules for filing amicus briefs vary by court.
“In some cases, the parties have to consent, in others, anyone can file,” Garnett said. “Of course, the fact that an amicus brief is filed does not mean that anyone reads it. It is not entirely clear whether, or how often, amicus briefs make any difference in court decisions.”
Garnett said amicus briefs sometimes affect court decisions.
This brief is led by Caitlin Patler, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley. Hsin and Patler previously worked together on another amicus brief during the first Trump administration related to Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals.
“We are a group of immigration scholars who work in this area. This is our research,” Hsin said. “It was really important for us and a wonderful opportunity to be able to try to communicate what decades of social science research have said on this, to be able to make the research matter and connect it to a very pressing set of policy concerns.”
Hsin said the brief allowed her to connect her academic work to policy.
“I study legal status. I study undocumented young adults. I study education,” Hsin said. “It was an opportunity to take the research that I had been doing and to communicate it to policymakers in a way that I hope can influence policy.”
Amelia Hatfield, a student who helped with background research for the brief, wrote in a statement to The Observer that working with Hsin was “a lovely experience.”
“We had the chance to research birthright citizenship policies in foreign countries to understand what the issue looks like in countries similar to the United States,” Hatfield wrote. “Overall, this is important work in the field of civil and human rights, and so it was cool to get a behind-the-scenes look at how professors translate their research into meaningful advocacy at the federal level.”
