Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) spoke Thursday on the Senate floor in opposition to Sen. David Vitter’s (R-La.) amendment to end birthright citizenship that is tacked onto legislation that aims to combat human trafficking.

According to Vitter’s amendment to the Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act, a child born in the United States would be considered a citizen if at least one parent is a citizen, permanent resident, or has served in the military.

“Eliminating Birthright Citizenship would create a perpetual class of undocumented immigrants, ironically growing the undocumented population by ensuring that undocumented children, and their children, and their children’s children, can never come out of the shadows and be equal before the law.” Menendez said. “This new permanent underclass would inevitably lead to some without any citizenship to any country – in other words stateless. The new underclass would be subject to the worst forms of exploitation, including for some becoming victims of human trafficking themselves”.

The Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act was proposed by Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX).