Who belongs and who doesn’t? Who is a citizen and who is “alien”?

Steven Miller, advisor to the President and architect of the plan to deport millions of people out of the United States, and the Heritage Foundation (Project 2025) would have us believe that being born on US soil should NOT confer automatic citizenship. But today, the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of birthright citizenship! Those born in the US are “US citizens” without regard to the status of the parents.

I’m breathing a sigh of relief! “Thank you, God!” Any other decision would have put millions of people (including scores of people in my circle) at risk of being stripped of their citizenship and potentially deported — which is Steven Miller’s ultimate goal.

At the same time that I’m relieved, I also am grieved. Last week, the same Supreme Court stripped Haitians and Syrians of their Temporary Protected Status despite dangerous conditions in their home countries, and it permitted the administration to continue the practice of turning away asylum seekers at the US – Mexico border before they set foot on US soil, thereby forcing them to remain in Mexico without a clear pathway to asylum.

As I recall, God’s instructions to the Israelites in the Torah were this: “The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt.” (Leviticus 19:34 – NIV) and Jesus announced blessing on those who welcomed the stranger. (Matthew 25:35)

The question of belonging and who is an American citizen has only been partially answered. If you’re born on US soil, the answer is, “you are.” But if you came into the country without documentation, or you came seeking asylum, or you arrived in this country as a child, or you were given temporary permission to come, you are and will remain an alien, vulnerable to the whims of people like Steven Miller, J.D. Vance, Mike Johnson, and Supreme Court Justices Alito, Thomas and Gorsuch who voted to end birthright citizenship..

ATTENTION: ALL BIRTHRIGHT AND NATURALIZED CITIZENS OF THE UNITED STATES. There are only 125 days until November 3. Exercise your citizenship wisely.