Under the United States Constitution, every person born in the United States is a US citizen regardless of the immigration status of his or her parents. But in Texas, the Department of State Health Services (DSHS) is suddenly refusing to issue birth certificates to US-born children of undocumented immigrants, choosing instead to take federal law into their own hands and deny children their birthright.

For years, the DSHS Vital Statistics Unit has allowed parents of American-born children to present a foreign ID if they lack a Texas driver’s license or U.S. passport. They have issued birth certificates to parents who present identification from their consulate, known as a “matricula,” or a foreign passport without a US visa stamp. Yet recently, DSHS has decided that foreign matriculas and passports are no longer acceptable forms of identification.

We call on DSHS Interim Commissioner Kirk Cole, HHSC Chief Deputy Commissioner Chris Traylor, and Texas Governor Greg Abbott to stop discriminating against immigrant parents and denying children their constitutional right to be fully-documented American citizens.

In doing this, DSHS has refused to perform its state-mandated duties. Denying these children proof of citizenship is not only illegal, it puts mixed-status immigrant families in an even more precarious position than they were already. Without a birth certificate for her child, a mother is unable to enroll her child in school or daycare, or even give authorization to medical staff to treat her child in a medical emergency.

The right to citizenship to those born within our borders is inalienable and fundamental, and has been for nearly 150 years. Texas’ decision to implement its own rules and regulations in regard to who can become an American illegally shirks federal law and points to an ugly trend of discrimination against Latino immigrants within the state. Tell DSHS officials and Gov. Greg Abbott  to stop standing in the way of the American dream.