Matt Watkins writes:

Let’s say a child is born this year in El Paso, Texas. Her parents are undocumented but long-settled, working in construction and child care, respectively. They’ve lived in the United States for over a decade, pay taxes, raise their children, attend church, and volunteer at the elementary school. Their daughter arrives in the early hours of a Tuesday morning, 6 pounds and healthy, her name already chosen. A nurse congratulates the family and hands over an administrative packet. But when her mother returns two days later to complete the paperwork for her birth certificate, the hospital clerk grows quiet. “There’s a hold on this file,” she says. “It’s flagged.” No additional explanation. No indication of what comes next.

A week later, a letter arrives—not from the Department of Health and Human Services, but from the Department of Homeland Security. It informs the parents that their daughter’s documentation is under federal review pending a jurisdictional determination. The letter advises them not to submit further applications until they receive clarification. That clarification never arrives. After several weeks and a few phone calls, each ending in confusion or silence, the parents stop asking. They fear drawing attention. They worry that pressing further could lead to their own detention. And so their daughter, born on U.S. soil, begins her life as someone the government will not name, will not count, and will not recognize.

This scenario, until recently, might have read like a dystopian projection. But after the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Trump v. CASA on Friday, it is no longer hypothetical. It is imminent. [Continue reading…]