The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) launched a lawsuit against President Donald Trump before the conclusion of his first day in office.
A group of immigrant organizations led by the ACLU sued the Trump administration over an executive order that seeks to withhold birthright citizenship against individuals born on American soil to parents living unlawfully in the country or on certain temporary visas. The lawsuit is likely a preview of the left-wing resistance to come against the Trump administration’s immigration agenda, which faced an incredible wave of litigation during the president’s first term.
“Denying citizenship to U.S.-born children is not only unconstitutional — it’s also a reckless and ruthless repudiation of American values,” Anthony Romero, executive director of the ACLU, said in a prepared statement. “Birthright citizenship is part of what makes the United States the strong and dynamic nation that it is.”
“We will not let this attack on newborns and future generations of Americans go unchallenged,” Romero continued. “The Trump administration’s overreach is so egregious that we are confident we will ultimately prevail,” said Anthony D. Romero, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union.”
At the center of the debate is the first sentence in the first section of the 14 Amendment, which states: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside.” The words “subject to the jurisdiction thereof” have garnered different interpretations over the years.
Wong Kim Ark v. United States was an 1898 Supreme Court case that secured birthright citizenship as a constitutional right. However, the decision was not unanimous, with Associate Justice John Harlan and Chief Justice Melville Fuller dissenting to the majority opinion. Their dissent — which argued that Chinese aliens were not “subject to the jurisdiction” of the U.S. because they retained allegiance to the Chinese emperor — paved the roadmap for contemporary objections to the landmark decision.
Trump vowed he would tackle the issue of birthright citizenship numerous times while on the campaign trail. Border hawks, who have long argued that migrants abuse birthright citizenship as a means to remain in the country after illegally entering, have contended that current interpretation of the 14th Amendment that bestows citizenship to nearly everyone born on American soil is incorrect.
“Our position is that the 14th Amendment gives citizenship at birth only to those born in the United States to parents who were residing here with the permission of the United States,” Christopher Hajec, director of litigation for the Immigration Reform Law Institute (IRLI), a Washington, D.C.-based organization that advocates for stricter immigration laws, previously told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “Under this rule, children of illegal aliens (who do not reside here with permission) or children of tourists (who do not reside here, but are only visiting) are not citizens by virtue of their birth here.”
Trump’s executive order seeks to prevent individuals born in the U.S. from obtaining citizenship if they do not have at least one parent who is a lawful permanent resident or U.S. citizen, according to the White House. The lawsuit is expected to reach the Supreme Court.
The ACLU, one of many liberal organizations opposed to the president’s immigration agenda, says it filed more than 400 legal actions against him and his first administration since 2016. The plaintiffs in Monday’s lawsuit include New Hampshire Indonesian Community Support, the League of United Latin American Citizens and Make the Road New York.
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