Columbus City Council member Lourdes Barroso de Padilla was born in the United States to parents who immigrated from Cuba, but didn't yet have U.S. citizenship.
A 6-3 U.S. Supreme Court ruling Friday could mean immigrants like Barroso de Padilla will have to individually challenge efforts in court to roll back the constitutional right that guarantees everyone born in the U.S. full citizenship. Under an executive order signed by President Donald Trump, Barroso de Padilla would not have gained birthright citizenship in the U.S. because of where she was born.
The court didn't issue an opinion on whether birthright citizenship is guaranteed under the Constitution, instead focusing narrowly with a complex ruling on the use of universal injunctions by lower courts to halt federal laws and executive orders on a national scale. Lawsuits continue that could rule on the constitutionality of Trump's executive order at a later date.
Barroso de Padilla called the ruling "scary" for the immigrant community, but wants to let people know the ruling will affect more than just people like her.
"This is just another time that I think folks, we want them to pay attention to the fact that when (the U.S.) bucks due process, at some point that's going to come around to you if you don't think it affects you today," Barroso de Padilla said.
NPR reports the majority opinion, written by Justice Amy Coney Barrett, didn't rule on whether President Trump's executive order violates the 14th Amendment or the Nationality Act. Instead, it focused on whether federal courts have the power to issue nationwide blocks.
"Universal injunctions likely exceed the equitable authority that Congress has given to federal courts," the conservative majority said. "The Court grants the Government's applications for a partial stay of the injunctions entered below, but only to the extent that the injunctions are broader than necessary to provide complete relief to each plaintiff with standing to sue."
The fourth-year Columbus City Council member was the first Latina elected to city council and recently helped create the city's first Commission on Immigrant and Refugee Affairs. Immigration is an issue that is personal for her, among other topics on the governing board for Ohio's largest city.
Barroso de Padilla referenced the 1946 poem First They Came written after the Nazis were defeated in World War II. The poem, she said, argues people need to speak up for the rights of others, before oppressive governments come for their own rights and no one is left to defend them.
"I think that there is an existential threat to our justice system, our Constitution and the very values in which this country was founded," Barroso de Padilla said.
In her dissenting opinion, Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote "No right is safe in the new legal regime the Court creates. Today, the threat is to birthright citizenship. Tomorrow, a different administration may try to seize firearms from law-abiding citizens or prevent people of certain faiths from gathering to worship."
After the ruling, Trump held a press conference at the White House, calling it a "monumental victory for the Constitution, the separation of powers and the rule of law." He said the ruling would allow his administration to move forward with key elements of his immigration policy without the threat of broad injunctions against them.
Barroso de Padilla argues due process is being set aside by the Trump administration, especially when it comes to immigration cases.
She pointed to the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was wrongfully deported before being brought back to the United States. She also mentioned the case of Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil, who was targeted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio for speaking out against Israel's war in Gaza.
"I think the challenge is that we have these federal or we have executive orders that are coming down and then we have the law and those two things are at many times at conflict with each other," Barroso de Padilla said.
Barroso de Padilla said this ruling will make the already "arduous" immigration process even harder and more difficult to navigate. She said immigrants will have to have money to hire a lawyer to hear their case, rather than have a universal injunction pausing Trump's executive order protecting their citizenship status or that of their children born in the U.S.
Barroso de Padilla said she is hoping for a quick decision by the courts on the question of birthright citizenship under the 14th Amendment.
The 14th Amendment says: "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States."
The 14th Amendment was enacted in 1866 after the Civil War and aimed at reversing the Supreme Court's infamous Dred Scott decision, which declared that Black people, enslaved or free, could not be citizens. It has always been applied to anyone born in the U.S. And the Supreme Court on Friday did nothing to change that 150 year understanding.
"I hope that our Supreme Court justices take their oath seriously, and really look at the precedents that they are setting, look at what this means for the future of our country. I hope that they stand by the Constitution," Barroso de Padilla said.
The opinion said Trump's birthright citizenship order can't take effect for 30 days from Friday's opinion, giving more time for legal challenges to form.
