Over 20 Democrat-led states and others have taken legal action against Republican President Donald Trump over his executive order targeting birthright citizenship in the United States on Tuesday.
A total of 22 Blue states, alongside the District of Columbia and the City of San Francisco, have asserted before a Boston federal court that overturning birthright citizenship defies the country’s constitution. This lawsuit is the first major case in opposition of a focal point in Trump’s thoroughgoing clampdown on immigration.
The executive order instructs federal agencies to deny US citizenship to children born to parents who are in the country illegally or temporarily, such as visa-holders.
“State attorneys general have been preparing for illegal actions like this one, and today’s immediate lawsuit sends a clear message to the Trump administration that we will stand up for our residents and their basic constitutional rights,” New Jersey attorney general Matthew Platkin stated.
The order infringes on the right codified in the US Constitution’s 14th amendment citizenship clause, which states that persons born in the country are considered its citizens, the lawsuit contended. Additionally, it pointed to the 1898 Supreme Court ruling in the United States v. Wong Kim Ark, which concluded that children of foreign nationals but born in the US must be granted US citizenship.
The Office of the Massachusetts attorney general Andrea Joy Campbell noted that, should Trump’s order be affirmed, it would result in 150,000 children being denied the right to citizenship.
“President Trump does not have the authority to take away constitutional rights,” she said.
