Attorneys general from Colorado and 21 other states filed lawsuits Tuesday to block President Donald Trump’s executive order to end birthright citizenship, a principle enshrined in the U.S. Constitution that guarantees that U.S.-born children are citizens regardless of their parents’ immigration status.
Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser called the president’s move a violation of the constitutional rights that children born in the U.S. are entitled to.
“The idea that a president could override the Constitution with the stroke of a pen is a flagrant assault on the rule of law and our constitutional republic,” Weiser said in a news release Tuesday announcing the lawsuit.
“The executive order cannot be allowed to stand, and I will fight to ensure that all who are born in the United States keep their right to fully and fairly be a part of American society as a citizen with all its benefits and privileges.”
Trump suggested he would try to end birthright citizenship during his presidential campaign. Whether he is successful at ending the policy, enshrined in the 14th Amendment, and confirmed by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1898, is far from certain.
Under the president’s order, issued Monday night, the federal government would stop issuing federal identification documents, like Social Security cards and U.S. passports, to infants unless at least one of their parents is a U.S. citizen or a “lawful permanent resident.” People who are stripped of their U.S. citizenship lose eligibility for a wide range of federal benefits programs and to work lawfully in the country. They would also lose their right to vote, run for certain offices and are threatened with the risk of deportation.
States could also be impacted by a loss of federal funding for key programs, the attorneys general wrote, such as Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program, foster care and adoption assistance programs.
In a separate legal action, hours after Trump issued the order, immigrant rights groups also sued Trump to try to block the order. Chapters of the American Civil Liberties Union in New Hampshire, Maine and Massachusetts, alongside other immigrant rights advocates, filed a suit in New Hampshire federal court. The lawsuit asks the court to find the order to be unconstitutional.
“Denying citizenship to U.S.-born children is not only unconstitutional — it’s also a reckless and ruthless repudiation of American values. Birthright citizenship is part of what makes the United States the strong and dynamic nation that it is,” Anthony Romero, executive director of the ACLU, said in a statement Monday.
“This order seeks to repeat one of the gravest errors in American history, by creating a permanent subclass of people born in the U.S. who are denied full rights as Americans. … The Trump administration’s overreach is so egregious that we are confident we will ultimately prevail.”
Weiser filed the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Court of Massachusetts.
The other states on the suit include California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Vermont and Wisconsin. The District of Columbia and the city and county of San Francisco also signed on to the lawsuit.
Arizona, Illinois, Oregon and Washington filed a separate lawsuit in the Western District of Washington state. (Colorado Sun)
