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

CONCORD, N.H. — Immigrants’ rights advocates at the moment sued the Trump administration over its government order that seeks to strip sure infants born in the US 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 can be denied citizenship below the order, together with New Hampshire Indonesian Group Help, League of United Latin American Residents (LULAC), and Make the Street New York. The lawsuit fees the Trump administration with flouting the Structure’s dictates, congressional intent, and longstanding Supreme Courtroom precedent.

“Denying citizenship to U.S.-born youngsters just isn’t solely unconstitutional — it’s additionally a reckless and ruthless repudiation of American values. Birthright citizenship is a part of what makes the US 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 Individuals. We is not going to let this assault on newborns and future generations of Individuals go unchallenged. The Trump administration’s overreach is so egregious that we’re assured we are going to in the end prevail,” stated Anthony D. Romero, government director of the American Civil Liberties Union.

Birthright citizenship is the precept that each child born in the US is a U.S. citizen. The Structure’s 14th Modification ensures the citizenship of all youngsters born in the US (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 US, and topic to the jurisdiction thereof, are residents of the US and of the state whereby they reside.”

The 14th Modification was ratified in 1868, overturning the Dred Scott determination that denied Black Individuals the rights and protections of U.S. citizenship. In 1898, the U.S. Supreme Courtroom confirmed in United States v. Wong Kim Ark that youngsters born in the US to immigrant mother and father have 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 Undertaking and lead lawyer on this case. “Denying citizenship to infants born on U.S. soil is prohibited, profoundly merciless, and opposite to our values as a rustic.”

Many expectant {couples} throughout the US now concern what’s going to occur to their newborns. One such couple impacted by this lawsuit are members of New Hampshire Indonesian Group Help. They arrived in 2023, utilized for asylum, and their software awaits overview. The mom-to-be is in her third trimester. Below this government order, their child could be thought-about an undocumented noncitizen and might be denied primary well being care and diet, placing the new child at grave danger at such a weak stage of life.

Such youngsters would even be unable to acquire required identification and, as they develop up, be denied the appropriate to vote, serve on juries, maintain sure jobs, and in any other case be a full member of American society, regardless that they have been born in the US and have by no means lived wherever 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 youngsters the identical primary rights as all different youngsters born in the US 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 Street New York.

“Each youngster born in the US ought to be born with the identical rights as each different youngster — and that’s why the U.S. Structure ensures that no politician can ever determine who amongst these born in our nation is worthy of citizenship. Trump’s government order instantly opposes our Structure, values, and historical past, and it will 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 will even stigmatize and ship a message of exclusion not solely to youngsters instantly impacted by the order, however to many others who can have their citizenship questioned due to their race or who their mother and father are. Excluding individuals born right here will 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 determine who’s American and who just isn’t,” stated Aarti Kohli, government director of the Asian Regulation Caucus. “For over a century, since a younger Chinese language American prepare dinner from San Francisco named Wong Kim Ark gained his case on the Supreme Courtroom, 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 Individuals’ personal ancestors who got here after 1898 constructed their households’ futures on this very proper. Wong Kim Ark’s legacy lives on in each youngster born to immigrant mother and father at the moment, and we stand able to mount a formidable response to any try and strip away this important freedom.”

“With this government order, the president of the US 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’ll 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’ll firmly oppose any efforts to undermine these elementary rights.”

“From the 1790 Naturalization Act to the notorious Dred Scott determination, 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 — an important 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 could be discovered on-line right here.