Kids With Undocumented Parents Still Face Major Challenges In PA

Immigrant rights advocates are calling the Supreme Court’s narrow ruling upholding birthright citizenship a win but said it does not remove legal barriers children still face in accessing equal rights.

In Pennsylvania, 7% of residents are immigrants, and 9% are U.S.-born citizens with at least one immigrant parent.

Zain Lakhani, director of migrant rights and justice for the Women’s Refugee Commission, said citizenship is supposed to be universal but it is not applied that way in the U.S. She pointed to regulations limiting access to public housing and other benefits for mixed-status families, as well as restrictions on the federal child tax credit for immigrant households.

“This is a way in which you do not get those vital, life-sustaining benefits to which you are entitled to as a U.S. citizen because one of your parents is an immigrant,” Lakhani pointed out.