House Speaker Mike Johnson Toys with Banning Pregnant Women from Entering the U.S.: Report
House Speaker Mike Johnson Toys with Banning Pregnant Women from Entering the U.S.: Report
Joseph KonigThu, July 9, 2026 at 9:08 PM UTC
16
House Speaker Mike Johnson on Oct. 24, 2023Credit: SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty -
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., is reportedly considering following the White House’s lead and setting up a vote on legislation that would bar pregnant women from entering the country
The Supreme Court last month affirmed the 14th Amendment right to birthright citizenship, angering President Donald Trump
Barring few exceptions, every child born on U.S. soil for more than a century has been automatically granted American citizenship
Following the Supreme Court decision last month that affirmed the constitutional right to birthright citizenship, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., is reportedly considering following the White House’s lead and setting up a vote on legislation that would bar pregnant women from entering the country.
“It’s a threat to the rule of law and national security,” Johnson said on Fox News Sunday on July 5. “We do need to address it. We’re looking at all angles. If there’s some legislative fix, we’ll advance that immediately.”
“We’ve got to address this. It really is a serious, serious issue,” the Louisiana Republican added.
Johnson floated a possible constitutional amendment as well, but noted that process “takes a little more time.”
According to a report from Politico on Wednesday, July 8, Johnson is considering a largely symbolic vote barring what he and other Republicans call “birth tourism.”
Stephen Miller speaks as House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., looks on at the U.S. Capitol on May 8, 2024.Credit: Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty
Any bill passed by the GOP-controlled House would all but certainly fail in the Senate, where it would require 60 votes, meaning some Democratic votes would be needed if all 53 Republicans in the majority supported the measure.
Johnson’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from PEOPLE on Thursday, July 9.
President Donald Trump has expressed outrage at the Supreme Court ruling, which upheld the longstanding constitutional right — enshrined by the 14th Amendment in 1868 and solidified by an 1898 Supreme Court ruling — to citizenship for children born on U.S. soil, regardless of whether their parents were citizens.
Barring few exceptions, every child born on U.S. soil for more than a century has automatically been granted U.S. citizenship, allowing them access to Social Security numbers, passports and other benefits of being a citizen of the country.
The landmark Trump v. Barbara case was among the largest tests of Trump’s executive power and his aggressive immigration reform, putting into question a constitutional provision long accepted as a bedrock principle by courts, lawmakers and presidents.
SCOTUS sided 6-3 against Trump’s attempt to change that practice. Conservative Chief Justice John Roberts delivered the opinion of the court, earning the support of Trump-appointed Justices Amy Coney Barrett and Brett Kavanaugh, as well as all three liberal justices: Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson.
Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch, who have consistently sided with Trump in their rulings, dissented.
“I will be asking for a Rehearing by the United States Supreme Court, IMMEDIATELY. This miscarriage of justice will destroy America if they don’t change their absolutely insane decision,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Wednesday. “Thank you for your attention to this matter! President DONALD J. TRUMP.”
President Donald Trump raises a fist as he exits a news conference at the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, on July 8. White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, right, looks on.Credit: Krisztian Bocsi/Bloomberg via Getty
The New York Times reported on Wednesday that it was unlikely the Supreme Court would take up the question again. The paper’s report noted the last time the nation’s highest court reheard a case it already issued a decision on was in 1965, and the only time in U.S. history it reversed its decision was in 1956.
Advertisement
“Citizenship, then and now, was the right to have rights — to freely participate in our political community,” wrote Roberts, the chief justice appointed by President George W. Bush, in the June 30 ruling. “The Framers of the Fourteenth Amendment extended that promise to ‘every free-born person in this land.’”
In large part, Americans support the principle of birthright citizenship. A Quinnipiac University poll conducted from June 18 to 22 and published on June 24 found that roughly 70% of Americans believe the Supreme Court should keep in place the status quo.
Just 27% support Trump’s stance that the nation’s highest court should undo the long-standing interpretation of birthright citizenship.
— sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
Trump’s White House vehemently disagrees with the Supreme Court and public opinion.
“This is absolutely a deep knife wound in the heart of the American Republic,” White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, the architect of much of Trump’s anti-immigrant agenda, said on Fox News’ Jesse Watters Primetime after the decision. “Here’s a pretty good clue your constitutional interpretation is wrong: if your ruling requires you to suicide your civilization, your reading of the Constitution is wrong.”
“It’s an abomination,” Miller added.
Stephen Miller and House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., attend the Congressional Picnic on the South Lawn of the White House on May 19.Credit: Kent NISHIMURA / AFP via Getty
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin claimed, without offering evidence, in a separate Fox News interview on July 1 that Chinese nationals were coming to the U.S. on tourist visas during the eighth month of their pregnancy to give birth, “then they move back to China, raise the person under a communist regime.”
“This is truly a national security risk,” Mullin said.
Immigration experts say the scenarios described by Miller and Mullin are virtually nonexistent.
“It is absolutely laughable,” Jorge Loweree, a managing director at the American Immigration Council, told The Hill last week. “To get a non-immigrant visa, tourism visa to come to the U.S., you have to prove that you have a strong combination of social and financial ties to your home country.”
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has broad authority to turn people away at ports of entry to the country and would not need additional authorities to turn away non-U.S. citizens in the late stages of their pregnancies if they suspected fraud, according to Loweree.
“It’s a very difficult undertaking for any person who isn’t wealthy, essentially,” he added. “I do not believe that that is something that is happening at all.”
on People
Source: “AOL Breaking”
