Deep in the Heart of Texas: Texas Settles Indefensible Birth Certificate Lawsuit
Julia Preston updates us on the resolution of a lawsuit in Texas. Texas officials had denied Nancy Hernandez a birth certificate for her baby girl born in a hospital in Texas in 2013, and thus a U.S. citizen by virtue of the Fourteenth Amendment. County officials told Hernandez, an undocumented immigrant from Mexico that she would not be able to get a birth certificate to show that her daughter was an American-born citizen. As Preston put it, “The babies whose parents brought the federal suit were born in Texas medical facilities, so it was not in doubt that they were citizens.”
Hernandez and about two dozen other immigrants sued, saying they could not obtain the documents Texas officials were demanding to prove their identities. On Friday, Texas agreed to a settlement that will expand the types of documents parents can present, allowing those without legal immigration status to obtain certificates for their children again.
KJ