A coalition of 18 states, including New Jersey, New York and California, filed a lawsuit in Massachusetts, saying the order violates the constitutional rights of thousands of children and imposes undue costs on local jurisdictions that would lose federal funding tied to Medicaid and children’s health insurance. The District of Columbia and city of San Francisco also joined that filing.
Another group of states, including Arizona and Washington, filed a separate legal challenge Tuesday afternoon. And the American Civil Liberties Union and Lawyers for Civil Rights filed lawsuits in New Hampshire and Massachusetts, respectively, on behalf of parents whose children would not be eligible for citizenship under Trump’s order.
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“The Constitution could not be more clear: citizenship of children born in the United States does not depend on the citizenship of their parents,” New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy (D) said in a statement. “That principle is fundamental to who we are as a nation and what it means to be an American.”
New York Attorney General Letitia James said Trump’s action “is not just unconstitutional, it is profoundly dangerous.”
Trump signed the executive order shortly after his inauguration Monday. Titled
“Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship,” the order stipulates that his administration will no longer recognize automatic citizenship for children born on U.S. soil to immigrant parents who are in the country without authorization, provided neither parent is a U.S. citizen or legal permanent resident. In his first term, Trump threatened to take similar action but did not follow through.
The order, which Trump said would take effect 30 days from its signing, also bars automatic citizenship for children born to noncitizen parents who are in the country on temporary work, student or tourist visas.
“That’s a good one — birthright,” Trump told reporters, while signing the document. “That’s a big one.”
Legal experts said the sweeping effort runs counter to more than a century of legal precedent and is unlikely to pass constitutional muster.
The plan also faces significant logistical hurdles. The administration plans to enforce Trump’s order by withholding documents, such as passports, from people it deems ineligible for citizenship. The order also says the administration will refuse to accept documents from local or state governments that purport to recognize the citizenship of the children it has deemed ineligible for citizenship.
But the administration hasn’t yet explained who — hospitals, health insurance companies, local or state governments, federal officials or some other authority — would review parents’ legal documents to assess whether their children could become citizens.
Civil liberties organizations have said birthright citizenship is protected under the 14th Amendment of the Constitution. A legal case could ultimately be decided by the Supreme Court, in which conservative justices outnumber liberal ones, 6-3.
When a reporter asked whether the order could be called unconstitutional by a court, Trump responded: “Could be. I think we have good grounds, but you could be right. We’ll find out. It’s ridiculous. … People have wanted to do this for decades.”
Trump falsely said the United States is the only country that offers birthright citizenship. In fact,
more than 30 countries do, including Canada, Mexico and the majority of South American nations.
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