February 17, 2025
The Honorable Mark Warner
The Honorable Tim Kaine
The Honorable Eugene Vindman
Dear Senators Warner and Kaine and Representative Vindman,
The 14th Amendment is clear: No politician can decide who among those born in our country is ‘worthy’ of citizenship.
Yet Donald Trump’s new executive order seeks to deny citizenship to countless children born in the United States – going as far as denying birth certificates and social security cards to U.S.-born infants. This brazen attack on immigrant children would deny them the right to be full members of American society and create a permanent, multigenerational subclass of potentially stateless noncitizens.
This order flies in the face of the 14th Amendment and goes against over 100 years of Supreme Court precedent. That’s why I’m calling on you, as my representative in Congress, to refuse to allow these attacks on birthright citizenship to stand.
Attacks on birthright citizenship would lead to an avalanche of consequences that would have permanent repercussions for American economic, cultural, and political life.
Only citizens can vote, serve in many elected offices, and participate in numerous other ways in American life. Excluding people from those opportunities because of their parents’ immigration status is simply un-American.
Every person born on U.S. soil has the right to full citizenship and to live life freely in the country where they were born. This executive order is shameful and unconstitutional, and as my representative, I hope you’ll do everything in your power to prevent enforcement.
Sincerely,
James Landrith
Woodbridge, VA
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Sent via ACLU.
February 20, 2025
Washington DC Office
1005 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Phone: (202) 225-2815
Woodbridge District Office
2241D Tacketts Mill Dr.
Woodbridge, VA 22192
Phone: (703) 987-2180
Dear Mr. Landrith,
Thank you for contacting me regarding immigration issues. I appreciate the opportunity to hear your thoughts on this issue.
America has always been a nation built on the ideals of freedom, opportunity, and the pursuit of a better life. As an immigrant and refugee from Soviet Ukraine, I arrived in the United States with my family at the age of 4. My father had $759 in his pocket, and we slept on our luggage our first night in JFK airport. But we came with deep faith in the American Dream – a dream rooted in equal opportunities for all. America has always been a special place for me, not just for its potential but for the values it represents. After all, there are few other places where a refugee from a repressive regime where freedom was a fantasy could one day serve his country as a Member of Congress.
However, despite the promise of America, our immigration system has been broken by years of inaction and a refusal in Congress to take common sense steps to both secure our borders while maintaining the values that make us Americans. For example, during the 118th Congress, a strong bipartisan immigration agreement was reached that would have ensured border security. Despite one of the most conservative Republican Senators leading those negotiations, extreme Republicans demanded that their colleagues oppose this bipartisan bill instead of taking meaningful action that could fix it. The bill would have provided $118 billion to enhance border security – for example, hiring more border patrol agents, expanding detention capacity, and surging resources to underfunded immigration courts to increase the speed at which we can process asylum cases.
As an immigrant and former prosecutor, there is nothing more important to me than ensuring we remain a country that welcomes immigrants, while also protecting our communities and our border. I look forward to working across the aisle to finally get this done.
Thank you again for reaching out. Please don’t hesitate to contact me with any further concerns and questions. I look forward to hearing from you in the future!
Sincerely,
Congressman Eugene Vindman
Member of Congress