A group of 22 state attorneys general, predominantly from Democratic-led states, have filed a lawsuit challenging President Donald Trump’s executive order aimed at ending birthright citizenship. The lawsuit, filed on Tuesday, asserts that the executive order violates the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which guarantees citizenship to anyone born or naturalized in the United States.
The core issue of the lawsuit revolves around the interpretation of the Fourteenth Amendment, specifically the clause that has granted automatic citizenship to all children born on U.S. soil. This clause was reaffirmed in the 1898 Supreme Court ruling United States v. Wong Kim Ark, which upheld birthright citizenship as a constitutional right. Under U.S. law, the principle of jus soli (right of the soil) prevails, meaning that birth within U.S. borders automatically confers citizenship, regardless of the parents’ citizenship status. This is in contrast to the jus sanguinis (right of blood) system, where citizenship is based on parentage, which is followed in countries like India.
The attorneys general, representing states including Massachusetts, Illinois, and New York, argue that Trump’s executive order undermines these constitutional protections and could potentially create a situation where children born in the U.S. to unauthorized immigrants are rendered stateless. The Trump administration, however, contends that the Fourteenth Amendment was not intended to automatically grant citizenship to children of undocumented immigrants and is prepared to defend its position in court.
The timing of the executive order has sparked criticism from various legal and civil rights organizations, including the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). Omar Jadwat, the ACLU’s director of the Immigrants’ Rights Project, described the move as “blatantly unconstitutional” and a deliberate attempt to stoke division and anti-immigrant sentiment in the lead-up to the midterm elections. The ACLU, along with other advocacy groups, filed their own legal challenges against the order earlier this week.
The executive order is slated to take effect on February 19, unless blocked by the courts. If enacted, it would represent a significant shift in U.S. immigration policy, targeting a core principle of American citizenship and prompting legal battles that could have lasting implications for immigration law and policy in the country.
