Immigration lawyer talks birthright citizenship, student visas and protests

Before the U.S. Supreme Court leaves for summer recess, it will issue what could be its most important immigration ruling this year: whether everyone born in the United States is granted citizenship automatically.

On the Washington Wednesday episode of “Politically Georgia,” immigration lawyer Charles Kuck talks to Atlanta Journal-Constitution journalists Tia Mitchell and Patricia Murphy about the birthright citizenship case and overall political climate surrounding immigration.

The U.S. Supreme Court term comes to an end in late June or early July. The high court still has to decide on about a dozen cases, including a case on President Donald Trump’s executive order denying birthright citizenship to U.S.-born children of parents who are in the country illegally.

“That will affect millions of people currently and going forward, that would have been United States citizens who might not be, depending what the Supreme Court does,” Kuck said.

He also discussed visas for Georgia international students and the ongoing immigration protests across the nation and in Georgia.

Attorney Charles Kuck represented 39 immigrants without legal status who sued the state Board of Regents to be allowed to pay cheaper in-state tuition at Georgia’s public colleges. (Miguel Martínez/Mundo Hispanico)

“The protests have a purpose and I get it. It galvanizes people that are against Trump,” he said. “But I do not see it changing the political narrative in Washington, DC.”