The day President Donald Trump was inaugurated, he signed an executive order attempting to sharply limit eligibility for birthright citizenship. Today, the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed in Trump v. Barbara a simple fact made clear by the U.S. Constitution: If you are born in the United States, you are an American citizen. This is a critical victory for our families, our communities, and our democracy.

Enacted to reverse the unjust Dred Scott decision, birthright citizenship was created to ensure that all people born in the United States are treated equally. Trump has failed to warp the 14^th Amendment—which was ratified in 1868 and says that all persons born in the United States “are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.” In the Supreme Court’s opinion, Chief Justice John Roberts concluded, “The Framers of the Fourteenth Amendment extended that promise [of citizenship] to ‘every free-born person in this land.’ We keep that promise today.”

Trump’s executive order would have denied birthright citizenship to the children of undocumented immigrants and immigrants with temporary legal residency. It could have resulted in “unauthorized” or precarious noncitizenship status for nearly 6.4 million U.S.-born children by 2050. Citizenship confers access to work authorization, voting, and critical public programs. If enforced, this executive order would have created all sorts of nightmares for innocent children. The federal Children’s Health Insurance Program, for example, is restricted to children with citizenship or legal residency, except in states that choose to fund these critical health services for all.

There was also the horrifying potential for children born in the United States—who knew no other home—to be expelled to countries they had never seen, where they didn’t speak the language and knew no one.

The Court’s ruling upholds the clear language of the Constitution and protects children and families, but serious threats remain. “The Trump administration has used every tactic imaginable to weaponize the legal system against its perceived opponents and divide our country. In doing so, this president has eroded our democratic values and undermined the safety of our families, neighborhoods, and communities,” said Insha Rahman, president and director of the Vera Institute of Justice. “Today's ruling, affirming the 14th Amendment, bars the administration from politicizing the Constitution and reinforces a simple fact: If you are born in the United States of America, you are an American citizen. No president or politician should ever get to decide who is ‘American’ enough.”

With this decision, the Supreme Court has served as an important check on presidential power, but the Trump administration is sure to continue its attacks on our democratic institutions through its widespread targeting of immigrants. Just last week, the Court ruled to terminate Temporary Protective Status for hundreds of thousands of Haitians and Syrians in the United States, giving President Trump the power to deport the parents of the very children the birthright ruling protects.

As countless community members face the threat of prolonged detention, deportation, and family separation, Congress must also act to serve as a check on the president’s attempts to erode long-standing constitutional and democratic principles and create more pathways to legal residency for people who wish to live in the United States.