President Donald Trump said Wednesday he would petition the Supreme Court to reconsider its recent decision upholding birthright citizenship, citing what he characterized as new evidence: a Texas hospital advertising maternity services on billboards in Mexico.
"Signs and Billboards are being put up all over our Southern Border, and Mexico, advertising BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP, with 'Deliveries starting at $4000'," Trump posted on his social media platform, amplifying a Fox News report about two billboards placed by a hospital in Mission, Texas, located five miles from the Mexican border.
Trump claimed the justices "will destroy America if they don't change their absolutely insane decision." The Supreme Court rejected his attempt last month to restrict birthright citizenship through executive order, upholding the 14th Amendment's guarantee of citizenship to those born in the United States and subject to its jurisdiction.
The high court almost never grants requests to rehear cases after issuing a ruling following oral arguments, and has not done so for decades.
Fox News confirmed this week that Mission Regional Medical Center in Mission, Texas, had advertised maternity delivery packages on two Spanish-language billboards in Mexico and on social media. The billboards directed people to a website, havemybabyinTEXAS.com.
The image resurfaced recently after being posted on social media in April by Mayra Flores, a Trump-backed former Republican congresswoman from Texas who was born in Mexico and is running to return to Congress. Flores criticized the prices listed, comparing them to typical American costs, though she offered no documentation that the reduced rates applied specifically to foreign citizens.
In response to the renewed attention and pressure from Trump supporters calling for restrictions on pregnant women entering the country, the hospital issued a statement saying the marketing materials "are no longer in use due to any unintended misunderstanding." The statement emphasized that Mission Regional Medical Center is a public nonprofit hospital committed to providing healthcare and complying with all applicable laws.
The hospital also removed an Instagram post promoting maternity packages to women "living abroad" who want to give birth in South Texas, though that post made no mention of citizenship benefits.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott ordered an investigation into the hospital on Tuesday, accusing it of promoting "birth tourism."
Trump issued an executive order eliminating birthright citizenship on his first day back in office as part of a broader immigration crackdown targeting both legal and illegal immigration. The Supreme Court blocked that order last month, determining it violated constitutional protections established by the 14th Amendment.
Author James Rodriguez: "Trump's request banks on a hospital billboard becoming a constitutional crisis, but the Supreme Court isn't likely to rewrite citizenship law based on a marketing campaign gone wrong."
Comments