EWTN interviewed Catholic Law Professor Emerita and immigration scholar, Stacy Brustin, to discuss President Trump’s recent executive order which attempts to eliminate birthright citizenship. Proponents of Trump’s executive order argue that birthright citizenship was not intended to apply to children born to undocumented immigrants. Brustin argues that the 14th Amendment’s promise of birthright citizenship applies to all individuals subject to U.S. law which includes the children of immigrants and the order is a thinly veiled attempt to circumvent legal channels for changing a constitutional amendment.
Brustin also explained that children born in the United States without citizenship would be deprived of the ability to “thrive in their communities and reach their full potential because they may be restricted in terms of public benefits or educational access” available to citizens.
Professor Brustin is the Director of the The Immigration Law and Policy Initiative [ILPI] here at Catholic Law, which aims to advance teaching, interdisciplinary research, fact-finding, policy reform, and advocacy to protect the rights and dignity of individuals fleeing their home countries and seeking refuge in the U.S. The Initiative aims to motivate the Catholic University community to grapple with the challenges of migration in response to Pope Francis’ call for Catholic universities to “educate their own students… to a clearer understanding of the phenomenon of migration, within a perspective of justice, global responsibility, and communion in diversity.”
The ILPI, in partnership with other departments at CUA, along with the Migration and Refugee Services Department of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and Jesuit Refugee Services USA will host the second annual immigration conference, "Rethinking Migration Narratives: Catholic Immigration Advocacy in 2025 and Beyond." The event will explore various narratives surrounding immigration and offer a Catholic perspective on narrative change. The conference is scheduled for Tuesday, March 4, 2025. You can watch the full video of the news story here.