Legal fight looms over Trump's decision to terminate birthright citizenship

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Donald Trump signing an executive order aimed at ending birthright citizenship in the U.S. (Forbes).

Just hours after being sworn in as president for the second time, Donald Trump issued a controversial executive order seeking to end the constitutionally protected right of birthright citizenship for individuals born on U.S. soil whose parents are non-citizens. The order was immediately met with a lawsuit seeking to halt its enforcement.

Making good on his campaign promise, the order directs the secretary of state, attorney general, secretary of homeland security, and social security commissioner to cease recognizing citizenship for children whose parents are in the U.S. illegally or in the country on a legal but temporary basis after 30 days from the date the order was signed.

From the order:

“Policy. (a) It is the policy of the United States that no department or agency of the United States government shall issue documents recognizing United States citizenship, or accept documents issued by State, local, or other governments or authorities purporting to recognize United States citizenship, to persons: (1) when that person’s mother was unlawfully present in the United States and the person’s father was not a United States citizen or lawful permanent resident at the time of said person’s birth, or (2) when that person’s mother’s presence in the United States was lawful but temporary, and the person’s father was not a United States citizen or lawful permanent resident at the time of said person’s birth.”

As he signed the order in front of a large number of reporters, Trump said of birthright citizenship, “We have to end it. We’re the only country that has it.” In fact, dozens of countries, including Mexico and Canada, allow for jus soli (“right of the soil”), the legal principle of granting citizenship based solely on an individual’s place of birth.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and several immigrant rights organizations almost immediately responded by filing a complaint in New Hampshire federal court asserting that birthright citizenship “embodies America’s most fundamental promise” and arguing that Trump’s order violates the Fourteenth Amendment.

“The framers of the Fourteenth Amendment specifically enshrined this principle in our Constitution’s text to ensure that no one — not even the President — could deny children born in America their rightful place as citizens,” the suit states. “They did so with full knowledge and intent that this would protect the children of immigrants, including those facing discrimination and exclusion.”

The suit invokes the landmark U.S. Supreme Court case from over 125 years ago, U.S. v. Wong Kim Ark, which held that the U.S. Constitution “affirms the ancient and fundamental rule of citizenship by birth within the territory, in the allegiance and under the protection of the country, including all children here born of resident aliens.”

The complaint proclaims that in signing the order, Trump was “flouting the Constitution’s dictates, statutory commands and longstanding Supreme Court precedent.”

“Denying citizenship to U.S.-born children is not only unconstitutional — it’s also a reckless and ruthless repudiation of American values,” Anthony D. Romero, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union, said in a statement. “Birthright citizenship is part of what makes the United States the strong and dynamic nation that it is. 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. We will not let this attack on newborns and future generations of Americans go unchallenged. The Trump administration’s overreach is so egregious that we are confident we will ultimately prevail.”