(Fourth of a Series)

In surprise moves, the United States Supreme Court has made two quick actions in connection with the immigration crackdown set off by President Donald Trump on the very first day of his second term in office on January 20, 2025.

In the wake of continued immigration crackdown which has lately targeted even US citizens –- children and even immigration lawyers — we have to tackle these High Court moves before we move on to the historic legal battle by the late Filipino lawyer Elly Velez Pamatong to gain American citizenship for thousands, if not millions, of Filipinos, especially those who were born when the Philippines was a US territory from 1898 to 1946.

The first US High Tribunal relevant action made on April 18 was adjusting its calendar by adding a court session on May 15 to hear arguments on President Trump’s executive order on birthright citizenship.

This first order was readily welcomed by immigrants and immigration advocates, saying it presents a ray of hope for babies born and those still to be in the US. Others say this will lead to final verdict on the interpretation of the US Constitution’s 14^th Amendment on birthright citizenship.

Immigrants and immigration advocates are hopeful that American birthright citizenship as enshrined in the US Constitution’s 14^th Amendment and as backed up in succeeding rulings will be supported by the Supreme Court.

The High Court’s second action made two days after the first was what was described as a “dramatic nighttime intervention” that blocked President Trump’s unprecedented use of  the 1798 Alien Enemies Act – last used to round up Japanese-American citizens during World War II – to deport Venezuelan migrants without due process.

This second action came amid growing protests in US against the immigration crackdown which, of late, has targeted — rightly or wrongly — even US citizens, legal immigrants or green card holders, doctors and over 1,000 international graduate students so far at more than 130 schools such as Harvard University and Columbia University.

It can be noted that President Trump lately made a small turnaround on the suspension of US visas of foreign students, holding their mass deportation, raising hopes that the Chief Executive may yet make similar decisions on related immigration matters.

It might be also worth mentioning that a day before President Trump took his oath of office, a still strong Pope Francis criticized him for his planned immigration crackdown, repeating his statements on the subject as early as 2016 when Trump was running for president for the first time. The Pope wrote a letter to US bishops stating that it would be a “disgrace” and would set off a “major crisis” if Trump went forward with the plan.

Earlier, Pope Francis, amid the heat of the US election season, branded as “harsh” and “madness” anti-migrant attitudes and even criticized some US Catholic figures for overly conservative stances on the issue.

It is also worth mentioning that Pope Francis’ first journey was to Lampedusa, an island that symbolises the tragedy of emigration, with thousands of people drowning at sea. In the same vein was his trip to Lesbos, together with the Ecumenical Patriarch and the Archbishop of Athens, as well as the celebration of a Mass on the border between Mexico and the United States during his journey to Mexico.

Despite criticism, President Trump honoured Pope Francis by attending his funeral at the Vatican together with other world leaders.

Ironically, in front of hundreds of world leaders attending the funeral of Pope Francis, Italian Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re echoed the Pope’s position as he called for care for migrants, an end to wars, and action on global climate change.

Foreign press reported that Cardinal Re repeated one of the pope’s strongest criticisms of President Trump, by calling to “build bridges, not walls.”

“A person who thinks only about building walls, wherever they may be, and not building bridges, is not Christian,” said Pope Francis at the time. “This is not in the gospel.”

With the High Court actions and President Trump mellowing on international students US visas, there may be hope for immigrants in the coming weeks or months.