Statement on: Ensuring Citizenship Verification and Integrity in Federal Elections" Executive Order
April 13, 2026
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: vochoa@eracoalition.org
Washington DC - Last week, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Trump v. Barbara, a nationwide class action lawsuit challenging an executive order that would strip birthright citizenship from children born in the United States to undocumented parents.
The 14th Amendment established birthright citizenship in direct response to the horrors of slavery — centuries of forced labor, family separation, and violent subjugation — ensuring that no person born on U.S. soil could ever again be denied the rights of citizenship.
To allow a President the authority to redefine who is a citizen through executive action would set a dangerous precedent — one that threatens citizenship itself.
This is not happening in isolation. Simultaneously, legislation like the SAVE America Act, and a suite of similar SAVE bills —which make it harder for millions of eligible voters to cast their ballot— are being pushed alongside efforts to weaken the Voting Rights Act. The attack on birthright citizenship is part of a broader coordinated strategy to control who belongs, who participates, and who is heard.
If left in place, the Executive Order would deny citizenship to more than 150,000 children each year — children who will grow up without legal standing in the only country they have ever known, simply because of their mother's citizenship status.
We believe in the power and permanence of constitutional protections. That belief is exactly why we fight for the Equal Rights Amendment. A country that strips rights from its most vulnerable residents cannot claim to stand for equality. Enshrining sex equality in the Constitution is not a separate cause — part of the same vision: a nation where belonging, dignity, and protection are not privileges granted to some, but guarantees extended to all.
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The ERA Coalition is a movement of movements, comprising over 300 partner organizations nationwide, and representing 80 million individuals. We advocate for transformative change and spearhead both community and political movements aimed at securing Constitutional recognition. We increase public understanding of the need for codifying the equal treatment of people on the basis of sex in the Constitution, and the need to end sex inequality in all its forms. This is what unites us all.
