April 2026 Newsletter

Issue #110

The U.S. Supreme Court is actively considering the future of birthright citizenship. On April 1, the justices will hear oral arguments reviewing a 2025 executive order that seeks to deny citizenship to children born in the U.S. whose parents are not citizens or legal permanent residents.

Ogletree Deakins

For the past 158 years, the legal foundation for birthright citizenship in the United States has been guaranteed by the 14th Amendment (1868) “All persons born… in the United States… are citizens.” It applies to nearly everyone born on U.S. soil, regardless of parents’ immigration status. This principle was reaffirmed in the Supreme Court case United States v. Wong Kim Ark in 1898.

American Immigration Council

The 14th Amendment was adopted after the Civil War to overturn the Supreme Court Dred Scott decision to guarantee citizenship to formerly

enslaved people.

Facts.net

   Approximately 38.3 million native-born Americans, or about 12% of the U.S. population, has at least one immigrant parent. Among children under 18, roughly 17.6 million live with at least one immigrant parent, representing 26% of all U.S. children. 88% of these children are

U.S. citizens.

Migration Policy

There are approximately 850,000 births to foreign-born mothers each year. This includes naturalized U.S. citizens, legal residents, and those without

legal status.

Center for Immigration Studies

Births to undocumented immigrants have generally declined from a peak of approximately 390,000 in 2007. This represents about 7–8% of all U.S. births.

American Immigration Council

  About 4.4 million U.S.-born children have at least one undocumented parent.

Axios

Globally, around 30 other countries grant unconditional birthright citizenship. Most are in the Americas (e.g., U.S., Canada, Mexico)

Visa Verge

95% of the U.S. population believes people born in the country to U.S.-born parents should be citizens and 94% say people born in the country to parents who immigrated legally should be citizens.

Pew Research Center

59% of Americans support maintaining birthright citizenship as a general concept, however opinion splits 49%–50% on whether to allow citizenship for children born to undocumented immigrant parents

             Pew Research Center

Those who say people born to parents who immigrated illegally should be U.S. citizens varies

by race:

• 73% Hispanics
• 61% Blacks
• 42% of Whites

                            Pew Research Center

Those who say people born to parents who immigrated illegally should be U.S. citizens varies

by age as well:

41% of Americans over 50+

58% of Americans between 18-49

                           Pew Research Center

Ending birthright citizenship in the U.S. would not only impact immigrant families, but would create significant administrative burdens, legal risks, and financial costs for all parents, regardless of citizenship status. The shift from a simple rule—where a U.S. birth certificate is proof of citizenship—to a system requiring parental status verification would create a "paperwork nightmare" for hospitals, state governments, and citizens.

American Immigration Council

For more on Immigration, click here.

A Petition Protecting Birthright Citizenship

The ACLU is going to the Supreme Court to argue that the 14th Amendment to the Constitution guarantees citizenship to children born in the United States regardless of where their parents were born. They need 350,000 signatures.

Learn more.

For more Public Witness resources, click here.

For Such a Time as This:

An Emergency Devotional

By Hanna Reichel. Drawing upon both scholarship and pastoral wisdom, offers a timely resource for believers seeking spiritual grounding amid societal upheaval. Provides a thoughtful framework for discernment rooted in scripture, historical wisdom, and the core commitments of Christian faith. Through meditations on scripture, reflections on historical precedents including the Confessing Church’s resistance to Nazi Germany, and portraits of inspiring figures who maintained their integrity in the face of oppression, guides readers toward their own Christian response to the present moment. Reminds readers that Christians throughout history have faced the collapse of worlds they once took for granted―and have discovered unexpected liberation in the process.

Read more.

For more Justice resources, click here.

Border Service Corps

A social ministry organization of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, promotes & demonstrates justice, kindness & humility in the U.S.- Mexico region. In Ciudad Juárez and Anapra, partners with community members, schools, churches, government officials, and organizations to accompany families seeking safety and supporting grassroots community efforts. Also offers refugee & immigrant hospitality services, human rights & advocacy program & border immersion experiences. Learn more.

For more on Immigration, click here.

Universal Love:

Surrendering to the God of Peace

By John Dear. In short reflections, the author shares conversations with a young spiritual seeker who came to him seeking guidance. Outlines what came of that conversation and what surrendering to the God of Peace means. Offers practical exercises, and shows how this might lead readers more deeply into the meaning of discipleship in a world of violence and conflict. Read more.

For more Peace resources, click here.

Catholics in Communion

A collaboration of Catholic social ministry organizations, religious orders, academic leaders, and parish partners who share the purpose of strengthening the Church’s public witness by accompanying pastoral leaders and communities as they discern how to live out the Gospel in public life. Grounded in Scripture and Catholic Social Teaching, seeks to cultivate works of mercy, deepen spiritual and leadership formation, and foster prayerful expressions of witness that uphold the dignity of every human person. This effort is nonpartisan and rooted in the Church’s enduring commitment to the common good, a consistent ethic of life, and the sacred dignity of all God’s children. Learn more.

For more Justice resources, click here.

All the Lives You Can Change:

Effective Altruism for Christians

By Dominic Roser, David Zhang & J. D. Bauman. Points readers to opportunities for loving their neighbors. Encourages them to go beyond conventional philanthropy, symbolic actions, and feel-good volunteering to discover surprising tools from effective altruism―an evidence-based approach to doing the most good. Drawing on Scripture, years of nonprofit management experience, and research from experts at Oxford, the authors equip readers to turn compassion into meaningful, measurable change. Offers practical tools to prioritize needs, give smarter, and develop powerful careers. Including case studies, biblical insights, and candid advice. Offers a road map for a life that makes a difference.

Read more.

For more Public Witness resources, click here.

Becoming Neighbors:

The Common Good Made Local

By Amar D. Peterman. Explores how the common good can be cultivated through the practice of neighbor love. Encourages Christians to adopt a different posture: to sit side by side with their neighbors at the community table, share a meal, engage in mutual listening and learning, and actively commit to each other’s flourishing. Highlights the faith-based insights that Christians can bring to the table, such as the biblical call to love others, to seek goodness, and to build communities of belonging. Offers tangible practices of neighbor love―including compassion, resonance, lamentation, and accompaniment―that translate across diverse populations. At the heart of this book is a simple but critical question: How will we live together?

Read more.

For more Public Witness resources, click here.

A Call to Christians --

in a Crisis of Faith and Democracy

A website that calls Christians across the country to sign a statement calling for courageous and faithful witness. Also offers ways to get involved, tools & resources. Learn more.

For more Public Witness resources, click here.

A Hymn to Life: Shame Has to Change Sides

By Gisèle Pelicot. For the first time, the author tells the horrific story of being drugged and raped by her husband and 50 strangers. Not as victim, but as witness, she recounts the investigation that turned her life inside out. With honesty and grace, she retraces the steps of a life built over the course of five decades, the final decade of her marriage and its hidden abuse, and the long path of emotional healing that ensues. As she transcends the traumas of her past, against all odds, she emerges with a renewed sense of passion and reverence for her life. Part memoir, part act of defiance, this book is a story of survival, testimony, and courage, and a portrait of a woman who broke her silence, reclaimed her voice, and forced a reckoning.

Read more.

For more on Domestic Abuse, click here.

How to Power the World 24/7 — Without Oil

A TED Talk, featuring Cindy Taff, who argues that drilling for geothermal heat instead of hydrocarbons can deliver what solar, wind and fossil fuels can't — clean, renewable power at all times, regardless of weather. She says accessing this resource could lead to 50,000 times more energy than all the world's oil reserves beneath the Earth, but accessing it requires using the same controversial technology that oil companies spent trillions to develop: fracking. Could this be help solve some of our energy challenges? Watch now.

For more on the Environment, click here.

3 Surprising Ways Microplastics Can Enter Your Body

A animation from TED Ed, shows how plastics are everywhere -- in our clothes, our food, the air we breathe, and even in our bodies. Micro and "nanoplastics" are generally absorbed in one of three ways: the air, our skin, and what we eat and drink. Questions how these microscopic particles affect our health and interrupt our body’s processes, and looks at how we can begin to fix our plastic problem. Watch now. 

For more on the Environment, click here.

Sabin Center for Climate Change Law

Affiliated with the Columbia University Climate School, develops legal techniques to combat the climate crisis and advance climate justice, and trains the next generation of leaders in the field. Provides timely information and resources on key topics and promotes advances in the interrelated fields of climate change law, environmental regulation, energy regulation and natural resources law. Learn more.

For more on the Environment, click here.

Words of Life:

The Preaching of St. Oscar Romero

By Todd Walatka. A selection of a dozen of Archbishop Romero's most iconic sermons, beginning with his homily following the assassination of his friend, Jesuit Father Rutilio Grande, in 1977, and concluding with his final homily on the day of his assassination three years later. Broadcast live on the radio from his cathedral in San Salvador, Romero’s Sunday homilies were a national and ecclesial event. While reflecting aloud on the Word of God, he related the gospel to the daily events in El Salvador. Addressing the hopes, joys, and anguish of his suffering people, he was also careful to document the accelerating incidence of human rights violations. These sermons show how deeply his response to the world was rooted in his deep incarnational faith. Romero urged his flock to incarnate the gospel message in their own lives in their commitment both to charity and to justice. Read more.

For more Justice resources, click here.

All the Empty Rooms

Winner of the Oscar for Best Documentary Short in 2026, features a journalist and a photographer who set out to memorialize the bedrooms left behind by children killed in school shootings. Watch the trailer.

For more on Gun Violence, click here.

CMMB

An international, faith-based NGO focused on women's and children's health, providing long-term, co-operative, medical and development aid to communities affected by poverty and unequal access to healthcare. Works with partners to strengthen and support communities in Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean, through healthcare programs and initiatives, the distribution of medicines and medical supplies, and the placement of volunteers.

Learn more.

For more on Health Care, click here.

Prayer

Pope's Prayer

for Disarmament and Peace

Click here.

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