Femi Ashekun/
In a landmark legal battle, attorneys general from 18 states, along with the District of Columbia and San Francisco, filed a lawsuit today to challenge President Donald Trump’s controversial executive order aimed at ending birthright citizenship.
The order, signed late Monday, seeks to overturn the long-standing interpretation of the 14th Amendment that grants U.S. citizenship to anyone born on American soil, regardless of their parents’ immigration status.
The executive order, fulfilling a key campaign promise, argues that the 14th Amendment does not automatically confer citizenship on children born to non-citizens or undocumented immigrants.
Trump’s directive excludes individuals whose mothers were not legal U.S. residents or whose fathers lacked citizenship or lawful permanent resident status. The order, set to take effect on February 19, also bars federal agencies from recognising citizenship for those in the excluded categories.
The 14th Amendment, ratified in 1868 during the Reconstruction era, declares that “all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens.”
Trump’s interpretation challenges over a century of legal precedent, including the landmark 1898 Supreme Court case United States v. Wong Kim Ark, which affirmed birthright citizenship for children of legal immigrant parents.
The move has sparked immediate backlash. Critics, including legal scholars and immigrant rights groups, argue that Trump’s order defies the Constitution and oversteps presidential authority.
“The president cannot, with a stroke of a pen, write the 14th Amendment out of existence,” said New Jersey Attorney General Matt Platkin. Connecticut Attorney General William Tong, the nation’s first Chinese American elected attorney general, called the order “dead wrong,” adding, “If you are born on American soil, you are an American. Period.”
Immigrant rights organisations have also filed lawsuits, including one in New Hampshire highlighting the case of a woman known as “Carmen.” Carmen, who has lived in the U.S. for over 15 years, fears her unborn child could be denied citizenship. “Stripping children of the ‘priceless treasure’ of citizenship is a grave injury,” the lawsuit states.
The lawsuit, joined by states including California, New York, Massachusetts, and Wisconsin, underscores the high stakes of the legal battle.
The plaintiffs argue that Trump’s order undermines the principles enshrined in the Constitution and could cause irreparable harm to families and communities across the nation.
As the nation braces for a protracted court battle, the debate over birthright citizenship once again brings immigration policy to the forefront of American politics, raising questions about the balance of power and the enduring legacy of the 14th Amendment.
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