Tuesday state governments led by Democrats and civil rights groups filed a series of lawsuits attempting to halt his highly contentious order on birthright citizenship. Earlier on Monday, at an inauguration ceremony, Trump, who signed an executive order, instructed US agencies to deny citizenship for children born within the US whose parents are not US citizens or permanent residents.
Filed in federal courts in Boston and Seattle, 22 states plus the District of Columbia and San Francisco were to join the lawsuit, claiming the order infringed Trump’s rights as stated under the Citizenship Clause of the 14th Amendment of the US Constitution, which states that a person is born an American if born on US soil.
It is likely to influence more than 150,000 children born in a year across the United States, whose right to birth citizenship would be voided if this order is enacted. Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell termed this move as unconstitutional because it is going to strip people from gaining access to the federal Medicaid afterwards they will never work or even vote, said Campbell.
The American Civil Liberties Union and immigrant rights groups have also filed lawsuits, one of which is from an expectant mother. The lawsuits claim that Trump’s decision violates a century-old Supreme Court ruling in “United States v. Wong Kim Ark”, which established that children born in the US to non-citizen parents are entitled to citizenship.
Legal experts expect more lawsuits that are aimed at other parts of Trump’s agenda, such as his efforts to roll back protections for federal employees and to reform government efficiency.
