Miami and Balogun prove birthright citizenship isn’t a loophole — it’s America | Opinion

How ironic that, two days after the U.S. Supreme Court reversed President Trump’s order ending birthright citizenship, America’s star player in the FIFA World Cup scored again. The goal by Folarin Balogun helped the U.S. defeat Bosnia and Herzegovina on Wednesday — and it would have never happened if birthright citizenship wasn’t a right guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution.

Balogun was born — accidentally — in New York in 2001 to Nigerian parents who were visiting from England. His mother wasn’t allowed to board a flight back home because her pregnancy was too far along. She gave birth in the U.S. and Balogun was automatically granted American citizenship. After two months, the family returned to London, where he grew up.

Balogun could have played for England or Nigeria but chose the U.S., becoming the team’s top World Cup scorer. Unfortunately, he will not play in the next match between the U.S. and Belgium because of a red card suspension.

His story is obviously unusual — how many children born in the U.S. because their mothers could not board a plane grow up to become star soccer players? Trump probably wasn’t thinking of elite athletes when he moved to deny citizenship to babies born to parents who don’t have permanent immigration status. On Tuesday, the Supreme Court, in a 6-3 ruling, struck down Trump’s executive order.

Balogun’s story is extraordinary, but there are countless other ordinary examples, hidden in immigrant communities like Miami, that explain why Trump’s order was punitive — it could have deemed some babies born on U.S. soil stateless — and didn’t accomplish much for the U.S. other than punishing babies for who their parents are.

We understand that many Americans feel that the nation’s immigration system can be abused by immigrants giving birth to so-called “anchor babies” and by wealthy foreigners who travel here for “birth tourism.” Many of the president’s supporters will point out that U.S. citizenship rules are laxer than Western Europe, for example. America is not necessarily an outlier but most of the 32 other countries, such as Canada and Mexico, that have citizenship laws similar to ours are in the Americas, according to a Pew Research Center analysis.

Americans have always prided themselves on doing things their own way. In the case of birthright citizenship, the Supreme Court agreed that’s a right enshrined under the 14th Amendment of the Constitution. But this isn’t just a legal matter of law. This is still the country where the children of immigrants, undocumented or not, can grow up to become successful professionals and local leaders.

Here’s an example: Miami-Dade School Board member Luisa Santos, who was born in Colombia and brought to the U.S. at age 8. She has spoken openly about discovering in high school that she was undocumented. Santos attended Georgetown University and eventually became a U.S. citizen. She started a nitrogen ice cream brand and was elected to the school board in 2020.

In a place like Miami-Dade County, where half of the population is foreign born, you don’t have to look hard to find similar stories or to stumble across a restaurant, ventanita or any other business created by an immigrant or their descendants.

Americans born to undocumented parents have opportunities they probably would never have in another nation: to study, earn a college degree, become an entrepreneur.

As Americans celebrate the performance of the men’s national team in the 2026 World Cup, they should also celebrate the 14th Amendment and the court ruling this week that dealt a crucial blow to Trump’s immigration agenda.