“He cannot rewrite the Constitution”: 22 states sue Trump over birthright citizenship order

Attorneys general from 22 states and two cities have sued the president Donald Trump In two local courts on Tuesday to appeal Executive order Instructing US agencies not to recognize the citizenship of children born to immigrant parents who do not consider themselves citizens, an effort unilaterally aimed at eliminating the US Constitution’s guarantee of birthright citizenship.

The order, which asserts that these children are not “subject to the jurisdiction” of the United States and therefore are not protected under the 14th Amendment, also includes children of some mothers who are in the country legally but under temporary status, such as aliens. Students and tourists. Without citizenship, they would be barred from working, voting, and accessing federal programs like Medicaid.

Eighteen states and two cities, San Francisco and Washington, D.C., They filed their lawsuit in a federal court in Massachusetts, arguing that birthright citizenship as defined in the Fourteenth Amendment is “automatic” for all people born in the United States and that Trump has violated the Constitution. Four other states They filed their lawsuit In federal court in Washington.

“Presidents are powerful,” said New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin He told the New York Times“But he’s not a king.” “He cannot rewrite the Constitution with the stroke of a pen.”

The lawsuits target a key part of Trump’s plan to crack down on immigration and potentially deport millions of people. If Trump’s order is allowed to take effect, it could deprive more than 150,000 children born annually in the United States of citizenship, according to the office of Washington Attorney General Andrea Nick Brown, who warned that it could make them “citizens of any country whatsoever.”

Trump’s order contradicts more than… 100 years of legal precedent Created by courts and federal officials who interpret the Fourteenth Amendment to guarantee citizenship to every child born on U.S. soil, regardless of the legal status of their parents, with a few exceptions — such as the children of foreign diplomats.