Alito’s birthright dissent echoes old xenophobia

Gustavo Arellano argues that Justice Alito’s dissent against birthright citizenship recycles xenophobic rhetoric once used against Italian Americans, despite Alito’s own immigrant family history; he celebrates the Supreme Court’s majority holding that birth on U.S. soil grants citizenship under the 14th Amendment and criticizes Alito for calling for a policy shift via presidential overreach and unfounded claims of fraud, while urging continued protection of birthright citizenship for long‑standing immigrant families.