“The 14th Amendment promises equal rights and citizenship to everyone born in this country. The current administration is trying to weaken those rights. I am working to protect this amendment because weakening rights for some people puts everyone's rights at risk.”

“Mr. Speaker, I rise today as the proud co-chair of the Defend the 14th Amendment Task Force because I believe in one simple truth: The 14th Amendment is now under siege. For more than 150 years this amendment has stood as one of the greatest promises our Nation has ever made: That every person born in this country is entitled to equal protection under the law and that no government may deny anyone due process simply because of who they are or where they were an immigrant from. It was born from one of the darkest chapters in American history. After slavery ended, our Nation faced a choice: We could preserve injustice under a different name, or we could expand the promise of freedom. The 14th Amendment was our answer. It declared boldly that citizenship could not be rationed, equality could not be optional, and liberty belonged to all of us. Today, that promise is being tested. This administration has made no secret of its willingness to chip away at the constitutional protections generations of Americans have fought, marched, bled, and even died to secure. They are using every tool at their disposal to weaken the very rights that safeguard us all. For me, this fight is deeply personal. I was born in the Jim Crow South, little place called Waxahachie, Texas. I came of age in a nation where equal protection existed only on paper long before it existed in practice. I marched with the Southern Christian Leadership Conference starting when I was 15 years old. The SCLC was led by a young preacher by the name of Martin Luther King, Jr. I marched because I believed America could become what it claimed to be. I believed that the Constitution should protect every citizen equally. I witnessed firsthand what happens when governments decide some people deserve fewer rights than others. The progress we celebrate today did not happen by accident. It happened because brave Americans demanded that the 14th Amendment finally be honored. It was the Equal Protection Clause that became the constitutional foundation for Brown v. Board of Education, ending legally sanctioned segregation in our public schools. It was the 14th Amendment that strengthened the fight against discriminatory voting laws, housing discrimination, and unequal treatment in employment. It was the 14th Amendment that has protected interracial marriage, expanded equality for women, safeguarded the rights of people with disabilities, and affirmed the dignity of LGBTQ Americans. Time and time again, when our Nation has taken a step toward justice, it has done so because someone stood up and insisted that the words of the 14th Amendment actually meant what they say. That is why attack of any kind on equal protection and due process are not isolated legal disputes. They are attacks on the very foundation of modern civil rights. They are attacks on the constitutional principle that tell every child they matter before the law. They are the attacks on the guarantees that protect workers from exploitation, families from discrimination, religious liberty, voting rights, and the simple expectation that government must treat people fairly. When government weakens these protections for one group, it weakens them for everyone. History teaches us that constitutional rights are rarely lost all at once. They are chipped away slowly, one exception, one excuse, one precedent at a time until Americans wake up and discover that what once seemed guaranteed has quietly disappeared. We cannot allow this to happen. Our constituents know what is at stake. They understand that the promise of America has been bigger than politics. They know that the Constitution belongs to every American, not just those in power. As the co-chair of the 14th Amendment Task Force, I stand with my colleagues in defense of one of the most important guarantees ever written into our Constitution. We will defend equal protection. We will defend due process. We will defend, yes, birthright citizenship. We will continue fighting until the promise of the 14th Amendment is not merely something we celebrate in history books, but something that every American can experience in their daily lives. The struggle to perfect our Union has never been easy, but every generation is called to protect the freedoms it inherited. Now, it is our turn.”

“The 14th Amendment guarantees that anyone born in the United States is an American citizen. Donald Trump and his allies want to end birthright citizenship for the children of undocumented immigrants. My colleagues and I started a task force to protect the 14th Amendment and stop these attacks on people's rights.”

“Mr. Speaker, I thank Congresswoman Mejia for her leadership. Mr. Speaker, the 14th Amendment means what it says: ``All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States. . . .’’ Those are the words on paper. Donald Trump and Stephen Miller attempted to rewrite the Constitution through an executive order banning birthright citizenship for the children of undocumented immigrants. It is the same legal arguments that were first used when a white supremacist wanted to deny U.S. citizenship to Chinese Americans. Four Supreme Court Justices dissented in the ruling to protect the 14th Amendment. That tells us that we are not safe from these continuous attacks from Donald Trump and his administration on our Constitution, on our freedom, and on our neighbors. We know that the White House is currently scheming to have Trump’s activist Supreme Court rehear the case that upheld the 14th Amendment, that upheld birthright citizenship. This is all part of a larger agenda to dehumanize Black and Brown people in this country, to strip away their rights, and to normalize questioning who belongs here. Who is American enough? It is why Republicans have funded Donald Trump’s immigration agenda by $200 billion and why on the 158th anniversary of the 14th Amendment, my colleagues and I launched the Defend the 14th Amendment Task Force. Our goal is simple: to defend the Constitution, to coordinate oversight and public education efforts, and to respond strongly to the Trump administration’s attacks on our rights, on our freedom, on our Constitution, our country, and our communities. We will stand up to these attacks on civil liberties. We must continue this fight to ensure that the citizens of the United States are protected and that nothing erodes these constitutional protections. It is our duty. It is our responsibility, and it is the oath we swore when we took this public office. Mr. Speaker, I am so proud to be a co-chair of this task force and so proud to stand here in defense of our Constitution.”

“I helped start a group to protect the 14th Amendment. We must protect its promise that every person has equal rights and fair treatment under the law.”

“Mr. Speaker, I thank Chair Aguilar and my fellow co- chairs, Representatives Cleaver, Randall, Simon, and Subramanyam, for their leadership in launching the Defend the 14th Amendment Task Force. This work is about protecting the Constitution’s promise that every person deserves equal protection, due process, and the full rights of citizenship. Those principles have shaped generations of progress in our country, and they are worth defending today just as they were 158 years ago. We owe it to those who came before us and those who will follow us to ensure that that promise endures. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.”