AUSTIN, TX -- The Texas Department of State Health Services has been denying a number of immigrant parents the birth certificate of their American-born children for several months. The agency has refused to issue the birth certificates, because they do not recognize passports and Mexican matrícula cards issued by the Mexican consulate offices throughout Texas.
Earlier this year, the Texas Civil Rights Project and Texas Rio Grande Legal Aid filed a lawsuit on behalf of several affected families. The Texas Tribune reports that, “The families claim that the agency is violating the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause by denying birth certificates to children who are, in fact, U.S. citizens.” [Texas Tribune, July 22, 2015]
This week, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton backed the agency’s unconstitutional practice by asking a federal district judge to dismiss the lawsuit.
“People born within the borders of our county are United States citizens. That is the law of the land. Denying American citizens their birth certificates is wrong, unlawful, and unconstitutional," Texas Dem. Party Deputy Executive Director Manny García said in a statement sent to the press on Friday.
“The Texas Democratic Party joins State Senator Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa, Representatives Gene Wu and Ramon Romero Jr., the Mexican American Legislative Caucus, Representative and MALC Legal Counsel Ana Hernandez, and many other elected officials and concerned Texans who have called for an end to the Texas Department of State Health Services unconstitutional practice”, added García.
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