As the Supreme Court weighs whether to allow the Trump administration to massively restrict birthright citizenship, Rep. Delia Ramirez, D-Ill., is attempting to use Congress’s power of the purse to block the administration’s attack on constitutionally protected rights.

In January, Trump signed Executive Order 14160, which would prevent children born in the United States and its territories from automatically becoming U.S. citizens if their parents are undocumented immigrants or on a temporary visa, such as a work or student visa.

Trump’s order was immediately blocked by lower courts on the basis of the 14th Amendment, which guarantees citizenship for “all persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof.”

As the Supreme Court hears oral arguments on the case Thursday, Ramirez told The Intercept she will introduce a bill prohibiting the use of federal funds to carry out Trump’s executive order and reaffirming birthright citizenship.

This issue is personal for Ramirez, who is the only member of Congress born to parents who were undocumented at the time of her birth.

“My mother and father fled poverty in Guatemala, and my mother was pregnant with me when she came to this country, and I was born in Cook County Hospital in the city of Chicago. I still live in the same community,” said Ramirez. “The idea that [Trump] would call to question who’s American and who’s not — it’s absolutely, very personal to me.”

Ramirez said it’s clear that Trump’s executive order isn’t about immigration, it’s about upholding white supremacy — a fact further evidenced by his administration’s move to end temporary status for Afghan and Haitian immigrants, then immediately offer refugee status to white South Africans. “It’s pretty blatant that this is an attack that is seeded on white supremacy and racism,” she said.

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The Issue of Injunctions

The oral arguments before the Supreme Court involve a case challenging several lower court decisions blocking the executive order from going into effect nationwide.

The Trump administration is arguing that lower court judges don’t have the power to issue nationwide injunctions and that these rulings should be limited in scope, if possible, to the specific people who brought cases. Five pregnant women in Maryland brought cases against the Trump administration, fearing for the........

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