Immigrants’ Rights Advocates Sue Trump Administration Over Birthright Citizenship Executive Order

CONCORD, N.H. — Immigrants’ rights advocates in the present day sued the Trump administration over its government order that seeks to strip sure infants born in the USA of their U.S. citizenship.

The case was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, ACLU of New Hampshire, ACLU of Maine, ACLU of Massachusetts, Asian Regulation Caucus, State Democracy Defenders Fund, and Authorized Protection Fund on behalf of organizations with members whose infants born on U.S. soil shall be denied citizenship underneath the order, together with New Hampshire Indonesian Group Assist, League of United Latin American Residents (LULAC), and Make the Highway New York. The lawsuit costs the Trump administration with flouting the Structure’s dictates, congressional intent, and longstanding Supreme Court docket precedent.

“Denying citizenship to U.S.-born kids will not be solely unconstitutional — it’s additionally a reckless and ruthless repudiation of American values. Birthright citizenship is a part of what makes the USA the sturdy and dynamic nation that it’s. This order seeks to repeat one of many gravest errors in American historical past, by making a everlasting subclass of individuals born within the U.S. who’re denied full rights as People. We won’t let this assault on newborns and future generations of People go unchallenged. The Trump administration’s overreach is so egregious that we’re assured we’ll finally prevail,” stated Anthony D. Romero, government director of the American Civil Liberties Union.

Birthright citizenship is the precept that each child born in the USA is a U.S. citizen. The Structure’s 14th Modification ensures the citizenship of all kids born in the USA (with the extraordinarily slim exception of kids of overseas diplomats) no matter race, colour, or ancestry. Particularly, it states that “all individuals born or naturalized in the USA, and topic to the jurisdiction thereof, are residents of the USA and of the state whereby they reside.”

The 14th Modification was ratified in 1868, overturning the Dred Scott resolution that denied Black People the rights and protections of U.S. citizenship. In 1898, the U.S. Supreme Court docket confirmed in United States v. Wong Kim Ark that kids born in the USA to immigrant dad and mom had been entitled to U.S. citizenship, and the precept has remained an undisturbed constitutional bedrock for over a century.

“Birthright citizenship is assured in our Structure and is totally central to what America stands for,” stated Cody Wofsy, deputy director of the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Challenge and lead lawyer on this case. “Denying citizenship to infants born on U.S. soil is unlawful, profoundly merciless, and opposite to our values as a rustic.”

Many expectant {couples} throughout the USA now worry what’s going to occur to their newborns. One such couple impacted by this lawsuit are members of New Hampshire Indonesian Group Assist. They arrived in 2023, utilized for asylum, and their utility awaits evaluate. The mom-to-be is in her third trimester. Underneath this government order, their child could be thought-about an undocumented noncitizen and might be denied primary well being care and vitamin, placing the new child at grave threat at such a susceptible stage of life.

Such kids would even be unable to acquire required identification and, as they develop up, be denied the precise to vote, serve on juries, maintain sure jobs, and in any other case be a full member of American society, despite the fact that they had been born in the USA and have by no means lived anyplace else.

“Birthright citizenship is a cornerstone of our democracy. Our members, who come from all around the world, have created vibrant communities, loving households, and constructed this nation over generations. To disclaim their kids the identical primary rights as all different kids born in the USA is an affront to primary values of equity, equality, and inclusivity. We’re grateful for the bravery of our members who’ve taken on this case, and are ready to combat alongside them,” stated Theo Oshiro, co-executive director of Make the Highway New York.

“Each little one born in the USA ought to be born with the identical rights as each different little one — and that’s why the U.S. Structure ensures that no politician can ever resolve who amongst these born in our nation is worthy of citizenship. Trump’s government order straight opposes our Structure, values, and historical past, and it could create a everlasting, multigenerational subclass of individuals born within the U.S. however who’re denied full rights,” stated SangYeob Kim, senior workers lawyer on the ACLU of New Hampshire.

The order may even stigmatize and ship a message of exclusion not solely to kids straight impacted by the order, however to many others who may have their citizenship questioned due to their race or who their dad and mom are. Excluding individuals born right here may even create a everlasting underclass of those that have by no means been to a different nation and could also be rendered stateless.

“When you’re born right here, you’re a citizen — interval. No politician, together with President Trump, can resolve who’s American and who will not be,” stated Aarti Kohli, government director of the Asian Regulation Caucus. “For over a century, since a younger Chinese language American cook dinner from San Francisco named Wong Kim Ark gained his case on the Supreme Court docket, birthright citizenship for all — together with infants born to immigrants — has been a cornerstone of U.S. democracy. This constitutional safety has been particularly very important to Asian American communities, who’ve confronted a long time of exclusionary legal guidelines. Most People’ personal ancestors who got here after 1898 constructed their households’ futures on this very proper. Wong Kim Ark’s legacy lives on in each little one born to immigrant dad and mom in the present day, and we stand able to mount a formidable response to any try to strip away this important freedom.”

“With this government order, the president of the USA is as soon as once more trying to violate the civil rights of Americans and their immigrant members of the family,” stated Juan Proaño, chief government officer of LULAC. “This effort to demonize Brown and Black immigrants targets all immigrants on this nation, no matter their background. If not stopped, it is going to undermine the very essence of what it means to be an American and can tear households aside.”

“Birthright citizenship is a transparent precept of U.S. legislation. Any problem to that is an assault on the rule of legislation and the protections of the 14th Modification,” stated Tianna Mays, authorized director for State Democracy Defenders Fund. “We are going to firmly oppose any efforts to undermine these basic rights.”

“From the 1790 Naturalization Act to the notorious Dred Scott resolution, U.S. citizenship has lengthy been formed to uphold racial hierarchy,” stated Karla McKanders, director of LDF’s Thurgood Marshall Institute. “By sidestepping the constitutional modification course of, this government order makes an attempt to unilaterally rewrite the 14th Modification — a necessary Reconstruction-era measure that granted citizenship to all individuals born or naturalized within the U.S., together with previously enslaved individuals. This motion seeks to resurrect a racialized notion of who’s American in opposition to LDF’s dedication working in the direction of to a multi-racial democracy.”

The criticism might be discovered on-line right here.