Ankara: US President Donald Trump on Tuesday called on Congress to enact legislation that would end birthright citizenship. This move came immediately after the Supreme Court's decision to uphold the long-standing policy of granting automatic citizenship to children born in the United States, regardless of their parents' immigration status.

According to Anadolu Agency, Trump expressed his disappointment with the Supreme Court's ruling on his social media platform, Truth Social. He stated, "The Supreme Court upheld birthright citizenship, which is too bad for our country, but we can easily make it up in Congress through legislation." Trump criticized the policy as being "expensive and unfair" and dismissed the need for a lengthy constitutional amendment process to bring about the change.

The Supreme Court's decision involved Chief Justice John Roberts and a majority of the justices striking down an executive order that sought to limit automatic citizenship for children born to undocumented immigrants. Trump emphasized that Congress should act promptly to end birthright citizenship, assuring that they would have his "complete and total support."

The administration had previously contended that the 14th Amendment's citizenship clause should not apply to children of temporary visa holders and illegal immigrants, arguing that the current interpretation encourages illegal immigration. Chief Justice Roberts, in delivering the majority opinion, was joined by Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, Amy Coney Barrett, and Ketanji Brown Jackson. He asserted that children born to parents present in the US unlawfully or temporarily are "born in the United States" and "subject to the jurisdiction thereof."

Roberts underscored that under the Constitution, these individuals are citizens at birth, describing citizenship as the foundational "right to have rights" and crucial for participating in the political community. He further stated that the Framers of the Fourteenth Amendment intended to extend this promise to "every free-born person in this land," and the court upheld that promise with its ruling.

While Justice Brett Kavanaugh concurred in part and dissented in part, Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, and Neil Gorsuch expressed full dissent. In his dissenting opinion, Justice Samuel Alito described the ruling as both "one of the most important decisions" in the history of the Court and "a serious mistake."

For over a century, the constitutional phrase "subject to the jurisdiction thereof" has been interpreted to provide citizenship to nearly everyone born on US soil. The Supreme Court's decision to strike down the restriction maintains this long-standing legal principle.