1. United States
2. Mass.
3. Letter

am writing to you to urge you to protect birthright citizenship and oppose any effort to deny citizenship to children born in the United States based on the immigration status of their parents. There have been proposals to deny citizenship to babies born to undocumented parents, as well as proposals suggesting that a child might not receive citizenship if one parent is undocumented, even if the other parent is a U.S. citizen. Both of these ideas are deeply concerning and fundamentally unfair. Birthright citizenship is guaranteed under the 14th Amendment, which states that all persons born in the United States and subject to its jurisdiction are citizens of the United States. This principle exists so that citizenship cannot be selectively granted or denied based on politics, race, wealth, or the status of someone’s parents. A child does not choose where they are born or the legal status of their parents, and they should not be punished or denied rights because of circumstances outside of their control. Denying citizenship to children born in the United States would create a permanent class of people born here who are not citizens of the country they were born in. This would create enormous legal, economic, and humanitarian problems, and it would fundamentally change what citizenship means in the United States. I am asking you to publicly oppose any effort to restrict or eliminate birthright citizenship in any form and to protect the rights guaranteed under the 14th Amendment.