CNN —
Since returning to the White House, President Donald Trump has made several moves to crack down on immigration, and one of his efforts will be considered by the Supreme Court on Thursday.
The justices are expected to hear arguments in a case around Trump’s executive order seeking to end birthright citizenship for those born in the United States to parents who are either unlawfully present in the US or on a temporary visa. Though the court could focus more specifically at this hearing on a procedural question around lower court judges’ methods for blocking Trump orders, CNN’s Joan Biskupic writes.
Several of the Trump administration’s actions on immigration have faced legal challenges, such as Trump’s use of wartime authority for deportations and a data-sharing agreement between the Department of Homeland Security and the Internal Revenue Service aimed at finding undocumented migrants.
As Trump continues his aggressive and fast-paced efforts, here’s where immigration stands in the United States:
Birthright citizenship is a nearly 160-year-old practice that grants citizenship to anyone born on American soil. It is enshrined in the Constitution by the 14th Amendment.
Ending the practice could increase the undocumented population in the United States by nearly 25% over the next 50 years, according to projections from the Migration Policy Institute. That’s because, if Trump’s order is allowed to continue, those born to parents who are undocumented would also be considered unlawful residents.
The immigrant population in the United States steadily grew between 2010 and 2023.
Given that growth and large number of immigrants — 47.8 million in 2023 or 14% of the US population — Trump’s immigration agenda could have economic repercussions, CNN has reported. In 2023, immigrants paid about $652 billion in taxes and harnessed a total of $1.7 trillion in spending power, according to the American Immigration Council.
There are more than 13 million undocumented immigrants living in the United States, according to the latest Migration Policy Institute estimates from 2023.
Trump has zeroed in on undocumented immigration in his second term after promising to do just that throughout the campaign. Since taking office, he launched a costly military mission at the Southern border, deported undocumented migrants with alleged gang ties to a mega prison in El Salvador and has floated sending more people to Libya, Rwanda and Saudi Arabia.
Immigrants make up a larger percentage of the population in states along the East and West coasts and the Southern border.
California, New Jersey and New York — all Democrat-led states where immigrants make up the highest share of the populations — have challenged Trump’s immigration moves, including filing a lawsuit against his birthright citizenship executive order and against the administration’s requirements tying federal grant funding to state participation in ongoing immigration enforcement efforts.
People migrate to the United States from all over the world, but the country of origin for the largest number of immigrants is Mexico — more than double the next two countries, India and China, combined.
Trump has said illegalimmigration to the United States amounts to an “invasion,” using the term in his executive orders and agency memos. The word choice is intentional, legal experts say, because the administration could rely on the invasion rationale to justify possible future actions.
