{"id":491,"date":"2026-07-27T22:14:03","date_gmt":"2026-07-27T22:14:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/?p=491"},"modified":"2026-07-27T22:14:03","modified_gmt":"2026-07-27T22:14:03","slug":"magas-backup-plan-to-end-birthright-citizenship-relies-on-a-racist-legal-relic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/?p=491","title":{"rendered":"MAGA\u2019s backup plan to end birthright citizenship relies on a racist legal relic"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

At the end of June, President Donald Trump and his MAGA allies lost \u2014 for now \u2014 the Supreme Court fight over birthright citizenship. Vice President JD Vance said MAGA needed to keep fighting birthright citizenship after the ruling in Trump v. Barbara, but it\u2019s set its sights on a different nativist victory, this time relying on a set of racist laws the high court approved back at the start of the 20th century.<\/p>\n

Read more Tom Homan\u2019s remarks on vetting reflect ICE\u2019s growing PR crisis<\/a><\/p>\n

Just two weeks after the ruling on June 30 didn\u2019t go MAGA\u2019s way, Rep. Morgan Griffith, R-Va., introduced H.R. 9724, the End Birthright Citizenship for Territories Act. The bill would deny children born on or after Jan. 1, 2027, in Puerto Rico, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands and the Northern Mariana Islands automatic citizenship unless at least one parent is already a U.S. citizen or a legal permanent resident. Griffith calls it a crackdown on \u201cbirth tourism,\u201d and the bill doesn\u2019t hide where its legal authority comes from.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe application under the Barbara case of birthright citizenship in the U.S. territories differs from what is established in the 50 U.S. States according to Supreme Court cases,\u201d Griffith noted in a July 16 e-newsletter about the bill. \u201cThe birthright discrepancy between the territories and the States dates to legal cases beginning in the early 20th century known as the Insular Cases.\u201d<\/p>\n

Those Insular Cases are generally considered so racist that even Trump-appointed Justice Neil Gorsuch called them \u201cshameful\u201d back in 2022.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For those unfamiliar with the Insular Cases, from 1901 to 1922, the Supreme Court issued a series of rulings on how much of the Constitution applies to places like Puerto Rico \u2014 which had become booty of war after the end of the Spanish-American War in 1898 \u2014 and other U.S. possessions. In the lead case, Downes v. Bidwell, the court ruled that Puerto Rico belonged to \u2014 but wasn\u2019t part of \u2014 the United States in a constitutional sense, and used language like \u201calien races\u201d and \u201csavage tribes\u201d to describe people living there. The doctrine\u2019s author, Justice Edward Douglass White (a former Confederate soldier), built the reasoning explicitly on \u201cdifferences of race,\u201d warning against extending citizenship to \u201cuncivilized race[s]\u201d he deemed \u201ccompletely unfit to receive it.\u201d This year marks the 125th anniversary of that first ruling, and is a topic I cover in a new podcast about Puerto Rican colonialism, aptly titled \u201cAmerican Colony.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis bill is divisive, it is racist in its foundation, and it is corrosive of the principles of American law. It fits a broader pattern in Congressman Griffith\u2019s record of measures that diminish Black and brown people,\u201d Rep. Stacey Plaskett, a nonvoting member representing the U.S. Virgin Islands, said in a statement. \u201cTo be clear \u2014 this bill has not attracted a single cosponsor. It has no discernible path to consideration, particularly given the calendar of inaction the Majority has laid out, but we do not dismiss it. We do note that the Vice President has said this is an idea the Administration is \u2018looking at,\u2019 and we take that seriously.\u201d<\/p>\n

I was born in Puerto Rico, where U.S. citizens still have fewer rights, so when I saw Griffith\u2019s bill for the first time, it raised the same feeling I have always had when it comes to my own birth certificate: that no matter how many times this country calls me a U.S. citizen, Washington still isn\u2019t sure what to do with the place where I was born. For 125 years, the Insular Cases have viewed Puerto Rico as a second-class colonial possession, even when thousands of Puerto Ricans have fought and died for a country that has never fully accepted them.<\/p>\n

Griffith\u2019s bill is just the latest attempt to insult us by threatening the possibility of Puerto Ricans having no citizenship at all. Of course, the bill doesn\u2019t explicitly say that, but the threat is there for anyone born next year in Puerto Rico \u2014 because the Insular Cases appear to provide some legal justification for it.<\/p>\n

Read more MaddowBlog<\/a><\/p>\n

That\u2019s not paranoia. Efr\u00e9n Rivera Ramos, a law professor and former dean at the University of Puerto Rico School of Law, told \u201cDemocracy Now!\u201d that the bill\u2019s own drafting creates exactly this kind of ambiguity \u2014 the first part reads as if it strips citizenship from anyone born in Puerto Rico after 2027, and only in the bill\u2019s very last provision does it narrow that down to children of noncitizens and non-permanent residents. That sloppiness, Rivera Ramos warns, \u201cmay cause problems in the future\u201d if this bill ever becomes law.<\/p>\n

But fighting Griffith\u2019s bill clause by clause misses the point. The Insular Cases need to go entirely, a position Neil Weare, co-director of Right to Democracy, has been pushing in court for years.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not surprising. Two hundred fifty years after the U.S. rejected colonial rule, the federal government continues to rely on the racist Insular Cases for the idea it can do whatever it wants in U.S. territories regardless of founding principles like \u2018consent of the governed\u2019 and all \u2018created equal,\u2019\u201d Weare said.<\/p>\n

Such a resolution is highly unlikely in this political climate, as long as MAGA is involved. Just last week, the White House brought back the image of Trump tossing paper towels after Hurricane Maria, an image that continues to enrage Puerto Ricans nine years later. To him, Puerto Rico is reduced to a meme. Any prospects of statehood are laughed off whenever he says he wants other countries like Canada, Greenland and Venezuela to become states. In fact, according to Trump, he might cry if places like Puerto Rico were to become states.<\/p>\n

So why would we expect anything different when it comes to birthright citizenship?<\/p>\n

Trump already made this bet once and lost. The Insular Cases are the backup plan, a racist relic that gets dusted off when the nativists fear the end of a lost America. Colonies like Puerto Rico have lived with that excuse since 1901, and it shouldn\u2019t have to keep proving, generation after generation, that its people deserve the citizenship they already have.<\/p>\n

Read more MaddowBlog<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The proposed \u201cEnd Birthright Citizenship for Territories Act\u201d would deny U.S. citizenship to many children born in U.S. territories.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":490,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-491","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world"],"yoast_head":"\nMAGA\u2019s backup plan to end birthright citizenship relies on a racist legal relic - Long Distance Movers USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/?p=491\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"MAGA\u2019s backup plan to end birthright citizenship relies on a racist legal relic - Long Distance Movers USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The proposed \u201cEnd Birthright Citizenship for Territories Act\u201d would deny U.S. citizenship to many children born in U.S. territories.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/?p=491\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Long Distance Movers USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-27T22:14:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/?p=491#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/?p=491\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/0206dfa2bde56a4792f75b5b97027e43\"},\"headline\":\"MAGA\u2019s backup plan to end birthright citizenship relies on a racist legal relic\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-27T22:14:03+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/?p=491\"},\"wordCount\":1051,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/?p=491#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/8cdf8539ce4b2b633bbcaf68f9446c6a.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"World\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/?p=491#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/?p=491\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/?p=491\",\"name\":\"MAGA\u2019s backup plan to end birthright citizenship relies on a racist legal relic - Long Distance Movers USA\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/?p=491#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/?p=491#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/8cdf8539ce4b2b633bbcaf68f9446c6a.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-27T22:14:03+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/0206dfa2bde56a4792f75b5b97027e43\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/?p=491#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/?p=491\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/?p=491#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/8cdf8539ce4b2b633bbcaf68f9446c6a.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/8cdf8539ce4b2b633bbcaf68f9446c6a.webp\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":630},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/?p=491#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"MAGA\u2019s backup plan to end birthright citizenship relies on a racist legal relic\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Long Distance Movers USA\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/0206dfa2bde56a4792f75b5b97027e43\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"MAGA\u2019s backup plan to end birthright citizenship relies on a racist legal relic - Long Distance Movers USA","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/?p=491","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"MAGA\u2019s backup plan to end birthright citizenship relies on a racist legal relic - Long Distance Movers USA","og_description":"The proposed \u201cEnd Birthright Citizenship for Territories Act\u201d would deny U.S. citizenship to many children born in U.S. territories.","og_url":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/?p=491","og_site_name":"Long Distance Movers USA","article_published_time":"2026-07-27T22:14:03+00:00","author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/?p=491#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/?p=491"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/#\/schema\/person\/0206dfa2bde56a4792f75b5b97027e43"},"headline":"MAGA\u2019s backup plan to end birthright citizenship relies on a racist legal relic","datePublished":"2026-07-27T22:14:03+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/?p=491"},"wordCount":1051,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/?p=491#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/8cdf8539ce4b2b633bbcaf68f9446c6a.webp","articleSection":["World"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/?p=491#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/?p=491","url":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/?p=491","name":"MAGA\u2019s backup plan to end birthright citizenship relies on a racist legal relic - Long Distance Movers USA","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/?p=491#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/?p=491#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/8cdf8539ce4b2b633bbcaf68f9446c6a.webp","datePublished":"2026-07-27T22:14:03+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/#\/schema\/person\/0206dfa2bde56a4792f75b5b97027e43"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/?p=491#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/?p=491"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/?p=491#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/8cdf8539ce4b2b633bbcaf68f9446c6a.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/8cdf8539ce4b2b633bbcaf68f9446c6a.webp","width":1200,"height":630},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/?p=491#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"MAGA\u2019s backup plan to end birthright citizenship relies on a racist legal relic"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/","name":"Long Distance Movers USA","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/#\/schema\/person\/0206dfa2bde56a4792f75b5b97027e43","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com"],"url":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/491","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=491"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/491\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/490"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=491"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=491"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=491"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}