Twenty-two Democrat-led states and two cities challenged President Trump’s executive order restricting birthright citizenship, that on Tuesday kicked off the first legal battles between his new Justice Department and Democratic attorneys general.
The two separate lawsuits, filed in Massachusetts and Washington state, ask federal judges to rule the order contradicts the Constitution, which under the 14th Amendment bestows citizenship on anyone born in the United States.
“President Trump now seeks to abrogate this well-established and longstanding Constitutional principle by executive fiat,” one group of states wrote in their complaint.
“The principle of birthright citizenship has been enshrined in the Constitution for more than 150 years. The Citizenship Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment unambiguously and expressly confers citizenship on ‘[a]ll persons born’ in and ‘subject to the jurisdiction’ of the United States.”
Trump’s order, signed as part of a flurry of executive actions during his first day in office, seeks to end birthright citizenship for children born in the U.S. to parents who are not lawfully present. But it also applies to some parents in the U.S. on nonimmigrant visas, a broader category that blocks citizenship to children born to those with authorization to work in the U.S.
The states’ lawsuits follow a similar challenge filed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) late Monday.
In a call Monday to preview executive orders, a Trump administration official seemed to acknowledge potential problems with the order, saying it would be carried out on a “prospective basis.”
“On a prospective basis, the federal government will not recognize automatic birthright citizenship for children of illegal aliens born in the United States,” the official said.
The order from Trump frames citizenship as “a priceless and profound gift,” casting the order itself as one that protects “the meaning and value” of American citizenship.
One coalition, which sued in Massachusetts, comprised Democratic attorneys general 18 states, as well as the cities of Washington, D.C. and San Francisco.
The other coalition, which filed in Washington, comprised four states.
“President Trump’s public statements make clear that he wishes to end birthright citizenship purely as a policy tactic to purportedly deter immigration to the United States. Despite a president’s broad powers to set immigration policy, the Citizenship Stripping Order falls far outside the legal bounds of the president’s authority,” the second group of states wrote in their complaint.
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