Supreme Court ruling on birthright citizenship could impact thousands of Utah immigrants, attorney says
Jun 27, 2025, 1:38 PM | Updated: 5:00 pm
SALT LAKE CITY — A local immigration attorney said he’s “really disappointed” in the U.S. Supreme Court’s Friday ruling on a case that impacts birthright citizenship.
“That’s going to affect thousands of people (in Utah),” Utah immigration attorney Adam Crayk said.
Under the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, anyone born in the U.S. is a U.S. citizen.
But, after returning to the White House earlier this year, President Donald Trump issued an executive order to make it so that only children born to U.S. citizens become U.S. citizens.
That order was challenged in court and ended up in the U.S. Supreme Court’s hands. The justices opted not to define the 14th Amendment itself, but rather allowed the president’s order to go forward where it’s not already facing a legal challenge.
The justices also ruled the president’s order could still be subject to further litigation.
How it affects Utah
Crayk said this ruling will have an immediate impact on thousands of Utah immigrants who are in deportation proceedings.
In some cases, judges will allow immigrants to stay in the country if they can prove they’ve lived in the U.S. for 10 years and that leaving would cause an extreme hardship to a spouse, parent or child that’s a U.S. citizen.
So, if this order is not blocked here in Utah, thousands of immigrants in deportation proceedings would no longer have the option to claim their child to get a cancellation of removal.
If the order stays in effect long term, it could also impact immigrants who could claim their U.S. citizen children to legally obtain a green card or become citizens themselves after their child turns 21.
“This is another exact example of making a mountain out of a mole hill,” Crayk said. “Why do we now need to change this (the 14th Amendment)?”
What happens now?
Crayk told KSL NewsRadio Friday he plans to communicate with other local attorneys and the ACLU to see who wants to challenge the president’s order on behalf of Utahns.
He also said there are attorneys around the country already filing for similar injunctions in their regions.
Crayk said that court filing likely wouldn’t come until next week, and when it does, it would first go to a district court judge, then eventually the 10th Circuit Court in Denver. Utah is a part of the 10th Circuit.
If a judge sides with them, then the president’s order would be blocked in the Beehive State. If the judge sided with the Trump administration, Crayk said there really wouldn’t be anything else they could do.
“That could be monumentally bad,” Crayk said.
The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to eventually make a decision clarifying the definition of the 14th Amendment, but it likely will not come until at least 2026.
