WATCH: Padilla: "We'll have to continue to resist, have to continue to fight back and defend our values, defend our rights, and build on them for future generations."

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary's Immigration Subcommittee, joined MS NOW's Deadline: White House with Nicolle Wallace to reflect on the Supreme Court's ruling on birthright citizenship.

Padilla discussed the Supreme Court's decision upholding birthright citizenship, his personal connection to the issue, and the ongoing fight against the Trump Administration's attacks on Constitutional rights.

On initial reaction to SCOTUS decision:

"We were praying for this outcome, but preparing for some devastating news, because that's the times that we're living in. Whether it's a Supreme Court that will, you know, act in ways that we can't understand or Donald Trump and the next thing that will come out of his mouth."

"But as so many of us are saying, we know the work's not over. Trump will continue to press this issue. He'll continue to attack."

"So we will legislate however we can, litigate when we need to, but we'll continue to organize and mobilize the vote this November, because the political pushback is the ultimate accountability."

On the personal impact of birthright citizenship:

"This is personal for me, not just as a proud son of immigrants. My parents immigrated to the United States in the 1960s. I was born here, so I'm a citizen by birth, and I've been able to live the American Dream, including but not limited to, serving as a member of the United States Senate."

"But when my wife, Angela, and I are having conversations with our kids about issues, and they ask us, 'what if the Supreme Court, you know, found differently, what does it mean? Not just for my parents?' What does that not just mean for my wife and I? What does that mean for our own children? Because if we lose our citizenship, as no doubt Donald Trump would like to see happen, what does that mean for our kids? Do we get to stay? Do we have to self-deport? Like, and that just happened to be our family. "

"But I assure you, millions of families across the country were having those same very difficult conversations and experiencing that same sort of anxiety and uncertainty. And so thank God the Supreme Court got it right this time."

On the Trump Administration's immigration enforcement:

"The cruelty continues. The cruelty is just less visible than it was a year ago or even six months ago."

"When people are afraid to go to work, when people are afraid to go shopping, when you're deporting people who work in the fields, of course the price of food is going to go up. When you're deporting construction workforce, of course, the cost of housing is going to go up. So people have seen Trump for what he truly is now, and that's why the approval ratings have flipped."

On public confidence in the Supreme Court and the fight ahead:

"The public confidence in the Supreme Court is not nearly what it should be. Even on a case as clear as this birthright citizenship, the Constitution couldn't be clearer."

"The attacks from the Trump Administration and from MAGA Republicans are going to continue so we'll have to continue to resist, have to continue to fight back and defend our values, defend our rights, and build on them for future generations."

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