NEWS: Democrats Dunk On Trump After Supreme Court's Birthright Citizenship Ruling

[0:00] American Caucus. Thank you so much to my Democratic colleagues and fellow caucus [0:05] leaders for joining us today to fight for our immigrant communities, for our [0:10] Constitution and a core promise of our nation. If you are born in America you [0:16] are American. Today the Supreme Court upheld the promise of birthright [0:25] citizenship which was established more than a hundred and fifty years ago by [0:30] the 14th Amendment and affirmed in the landmark case United States versus Wong [0:35] Kim Ark, which determined that Wong Kim Ark, the son of Chinese migrants born in [0:41] San Francisco, was an American citizen. The Supreme Court ruled in his favor even [0:48] at the height of the Chinese Exclusion Act because the 14th Amendment is [0:53] abundantly clear all persons born in the United States means all persons. [1:00] It is because of people like him and the generations of black Americans who [1:05] fought to secure their rights through the 14th Amendment that I, the daughter of [1:10] immigrants, could become a citizen by birthright and serve in the halls of [1:14] Congress. It is how millions of Asian Americans, 65% of whom are foreign-born, [1:23] more than any other ethnic group, could pursue the American dream. So as we celebrate [1:30] today's ruling, I have a message for President Trump. You may believe you are [1:35] above the law, you are not. You may try to divide Americans based on race, religion or [1:42] their country of origin and you will fail. You may try to redefine what it means to be [1:47] an American and you will fail. We are American, we belong here and no wannabe king will [1:54] ever take that away from us. I want to give a special shout out to the ACLU, [2:04] Co-Council's Asian Law Caucus, Legal Defense Fund, Democracy Defenders Fund, the [2:10] House Litigation Task Force and all the advocates here today who fought to defend [2:15] our fundamental rights and close Immigrant Heritage Month with this victory. With that, [2:21] I'd like to hand the mic over to our fearless leader, Chair of the Congressional Hispanic [2:26] Caucus, Adriano Espaillat. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Grace. Thank you. What you see behind [2:36] this podium is the faces of America, the different faces of the tapestry that is called the United [2:49] States of America, an experiment of elastic values that stretches in many directions in many ways. [3:03] That is what you see right here behind this podium, who America is. And today the Constitution won, [3:12] the American people won. As part and chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, we were happy to be [3:23] part of this lawsuit. As friends of the court, we came in to make our statement felt in the highest court [3:34] of the land, an unequivocal statement, an American statement that we will not be held to a different [3:44] standard, that our children that are born here are U.S. born children, irregardless of our status, and that [3:53] we belong, and we deserve to have all the rights and privileges extended to all Americans by the U.S. [4:02] Constitution. Trump tried to erase one of our nation's clearest constitutional guarantee, and he failed. [4:14] We won, and he failed. We're right, and he's wrong. Birthright citizenship is protected, is shielded by the [4:26] 14th Amendment, and by the sacred document called the Constitution. No president has the power, no president [4:36] has the power to decide who an American is. The Constitution states it, and it does it in a very transparent [4:46] and clear way. As MAGA extremists push a dangerous and divisive vision rooted in fear and exclusion, the [4:57] Congressional Hispanic Caucus stands united to defend our Constitution, everybody's Constitution, your [5:07] Constitution, your Constitution, yours and yours, all of us. We are the owners of that document, the [5:15] Constitution, an elastic document that will stretch to include everybody. And so we will continue to stand [5:25] united to defend that document, protect our freedoms, and fight for America, for every child, so that every [5:35] child has the opportunity to achieve the American dream. [5:39] Hoy anóó la Constitución y ganó el pueblo americano. Donald Trump intentó de eliminar una de las garantías más [5:51] sagradas, más sagradas, más importantes de nuestra Constitución y fue derrotado. Fracasó. La ciudadanía por [6:00] nacimiento es protegida por la 14 enmiendas de la Constitución y ningún presidente tiene el derecho a [6:09] eliminar esa gran garantía para todos nuestros hijos. Mientras los extremistas de MAGA impulsaron una agenda [6:18] basada basada en el miedo, el Caucus hispano se lanzó adelante de nuevo y a través de un litigio se unió a esta [6:32] acción legal como amigos de la corte para que este fallo fuera hoy un éxito. Le doy la gracia a los miembros [6:40] del Caucus. Yo creo que de muchas maneras nosotros le hemos enseñado a este pueblo, a esta ciudad, cómo pelear a [6:49] favor de los emigrantes porque nosotros somos emigrantes también y nunca vamos a olvidar eso. Gracias. [6:57] With that, with that I introduce Congressman Troy Carter. [7:10] Thank you very much. I am Congressman Troy Carter representing the great state of Louisiana, [7:17] the first Vice Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus. I want to thank my colleagues in the House [7:21] Democratic Caucus for their presence and their leadership here today for the congressional team [7:28] of caucuses that you see here today, standing in unison, recognizing the importance of this day [7:36] and this victory. The 14th Amendment was written into the Constitution during Reconstruction to ensure [7:42] that no one could deny or question the citizenship of formerly enslaved Americans because of their race. [7:51] Today, more than 150 years later, that constitutional guarantee has withstood [7:57] Donald Trump's unconstitutional assault on one of our nation's most fundamental promises. [8:05] The history and the gravity of this moment should not be lost on any of us. The fact that we've arrived [8:14] at a moment where an American president would attempt to unilaterally strip Americans of their [8:21] constitutional birthright is in itself a warning. A warning to all of us. Us today, [8:28] you tomorrow, and who may be next. It reminds us that our rights cannot be taken for granted. [8:37] Donald Trump's effort to end birthright citizenship was an attempt to unravel one of the Constitution's [8:44] clearest guarantees. That citizenship is a constitutional right, not a privilege that any president [8:53] can give or revoke. While that shameful effort has failed, we're under no illusion that Donald [9:02] Trump and his allies will stop attacking our fundamental freedoms, our diversity, and the [9:08] constitutional rights of the American people. Nor are we under any illusion that the role of the [9:15] Supreme Court has chosen to play, not one of being the orbiter of interpreting the law, but one that is [9:21] succumbing to the pressures of a president who simply wants his way. As we've seen here in this term, [9:29] from Calais, from the Calais decision to temporary protected status to upholding discriminatory [9:34] anti-gender and anti-transgender sports ban, the Roberts Court has repeatedly rolled back hard-fought [9:42] progress while expanding presidential power at the expense of the rights of everyday Americans. [9:48] We know what we're up against and the House Democrats are not backing down. Every inch of progress in this [9:56] country has been hard fought. One, through struggle, through resistance, and through courage of people [10:03] this nation too often tried to leave behind. We will not stand by while our progress is dismantled. [10:12] This battle is not over. This battle will not be over because we will continue to fight and we will not [10:17] quit. Make no mistake about it. Today's victory does not mark the end of this fight. It marks the [10:24] beginning of the next one. The American people deserve a judiciary that is independent, accountable, [10:32] and committed to equal justice under the law, not one that repeatedly expands unchecked presidential power [10:39] while narrowing the rights and freedoms of the people. House Democrats will continue fighting for [10:44] meaningful Supreme Court reform, including term limits and stronger ethics and accountability measures [10:49] that restore public trust in this Constitution. As was said, our Constitution, your Constitution, [10:57] your Constitution. The Constitution does not belong to any president. It belongs to the American people. [11:06] Because the stakes of this Court are far beyond the actions of these justices, they reach the very heart [11:14] of our democracy. To whether we keep faith in our highest ideals, that the Constitution protects every [11:21] American equally and that no president, no court is above it. House Democrats should do everything in [11:27] our power to ensure that these promises are kept. Next, I will bring to the podium the chairman of the [11:36] Hispanic Caucus, of the Progressive Caucus, Greg Kassar. Good morning. I want to thank the leaders of the [11:49] New Dems and KPAC and the CBC for all of their work on this and a special recognition to our chairman [11:57] and leader of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, Adriano Español. Thank you so very, very much. [12:03] I'm Greg Kassar. I represent the heart of Texas in Congress. I'm chairman of the Progressive Caucus. [12:11] And today, we're here to stand up for a fundamental American principle, that if you're born in America, [12:18] you are an American. No matter your parents' birthplace or language or creed, citizenship [12:24] is a birthright in this country. No one is born a second-class citizen. And no president, no would-be [12:35] king gets to pick and choose who is and who is not American. One people and equal justice for every [12:44] single one of them. That is what Donald Trump was trying to undermine with his executive order, [12:49] that the men and women who fought for the 14th Amendment knew the dangers of allowing people in [12:55] power to pick and choose who does and does not have rights in this country. They had won a civil [13:01] war to purge our country of the moral rot that follows when some people are deemed unworthy of [13:09] equal rights. And today, we say we will never go back. But I wish I could stand before you today and [13:16] say this ruling was only good news. But it is not. While we won the case today, we also got a grave [13:25] warning about the future. What should have been a simple, unanimous, open and shut decision was [13:31] dangerously close. Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, Samuel Alito, and Brett Kavanaugh failed to recognize the [13:40] fundamental constitutional right to birthright citizenship. Three of those four justices would have [13:48] allowed Donald Trump to rewrite the constitution and overrule Congress with an executive order. [13:54] These four men, so blinded by partisanship and extremism, that they act like they can't see the [14:00] words in the constitution. They can certainly read, but they are not following their oath to protect [14:07] the constitution and the rights of the people in this country. Shame on them. If these far-right [14:14] justices are ruling against our rights, even when they're written down black and white in the [14:19] constitution, then nothing we hold dear is safe. So today we may breathe a sigh of relief, [14:26] but we also recommit ourselves to the fight to protect the rights of all citizens. And the way [14:31] we do that is reining in this hyper-partisan Supreme Court. It's time to have a Supreme Court that is for [14:38] the people and not just for their big donors. And with that, I am proud to call up my friend, [14:50] a great ally on this work from the New Democratic Coalition, Congressman Derek Tran. [14:56] Good afternoon, everyone. I want to thank my Tri-Caucus colleagues and my colleagues from the New [15:08] Dems and Progressive Caucus for welcoming me and standing shoulder to shoulder with me today. [15:13] I was born in the United States the year that my refugee parents were admitted to this great country. [15:20] They fled oppression and violence in communist Vietnam and came to the United States because of the [15:27] promise of the American dream. A dream that says that if you work hard and you play by the rules, [15:34] our family will be no less American than the people who arrived on the Mayflower. It was because America [15:42] welcomed my refugee parents that I was able to join the army and start my own business and now represent [15:50] California in Congress. But I am not unique. Almost every American can trace their family history [15:58] through the story of immigration. We have built communities that are unmatched in our prosperity. [16:06] We have turned adversity into opportunity and we have nurtured trailblazers in all walks of life. [16:14] But President Trump tried to turn back the clock on that progress. He wanted to sacrifice the prosperity [16:22] that we have built to just advance his own racist and xenophobic agenda. But the Supreme Court rejected [16:30] the President's efforts. They affirmed they affirmed that every child born in the United States is a [16:38] citizen of the United States, keeping a fundamental principle of the American dream alive. But we know [16:45] that this is not the end of President Trump's attack on the Constitution. We cannot let up this fight to [16:51] protect our fundamental rights. The American dream is not a guarantee to us. We have to fight for it [16:58] each and every day. Thank you so much. That concludes our press conference. I know they've called votes, [17:09] but does anyone have any questions? Thank you for coming.