18 States Sue to Stop Trump's Birthright Citizenship Order [View all]
NYT - Gift Link
Attorneys general from 18 states sued President Trump on Tuesday to block an executive order that refuses to recognize the U.S.-born children of unauthorized immigrants as citizens, the opening salvo in what promises to be a long legal battle over the Trump administrations immigration policies.
The complaint, filed in Federal District Court in Massachusetts was joined by the cities of San Francisco and Washington, D.C.
The states view Mr. Trumps attempt to limit birthright citizenship as extraordinary and extreme, said New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin, who led the legal effort along with the attorneys general from California and Massachusetts. Presidents are powerful, but he is not a king. He cannot rewrite the Constitution with a stroke of the pen.
On Monday, in the opening hours of his second term as president, Mr. Trump signed an order declaring that future children born to undocumented immigrants would no longer be treated as citizens. The order would extend even to the children of some mothers in the country legally but temporarily, such as foreign students or tourists.
Mr. Trumps executive order asserts that the children of such noncitizens are not subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, and thus arent covered by the 14th Amendments longstanding constitutional guarantee.