A federal judge in Boston on Friday will consider a request from 18 state attorneys general to block President Donald Trump’s executive order ending birthright citizenship for the children of parents who are in the U.S. illegally.
The hearing comes after a federal judge in Seattle blocked the order Thursday and decried what he described as the administration’s treatment of the Constitution, saying Trump was trying to change it with an executive order. The Seattle ruling in a lawsuit brought by four states and an immigrant rights group followed one by a Maryland federal judge, who on Wednesday issued a nationwide pause on the order in a separate but similar case.
In the Boston case, the state attorneys general, along with the cities of San Francisco and Washington, are asking Judge Leo Sorokin to issue a preliminary injunction.
They argue that the principle of birthright citizenship is “enshrined in the Constitution” and that Trump does not have the authority to issue the order, which they called a “flagrantly unlawful attempt to strip hundreds of thousands of American-born children of their citizenship based on their parentage.”
“This order would affect over 150,000 children born every year in United States who, if the order stands, would lack their most basic rights and have to live under threat of deportation," said Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell. "It could possibly affect millions of children if allowed to go forward. There are newborn babies who have done absolutely nothing wrong. They are innocent.”
They also say Trump's order would cost states funding they rely on to “provide essential services” — from foster care to health care for low-income children to “early interventions for infants, toddlers, and students with disabilities.”
Campbell joined New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin and Connecticut Attorney General William Tong at a media availability on Friday morning prior to the federal court hearing, calling Trump's order "a flagrant violation of the 14th Amendment."
"Birthright citizenship is a century old promise made to American born babies," Campbell said. "It ensures anyone born on U.S. soil is a citizen, regardless of race, ethnicity or social status... It is also the promise of America. Hundreds of millions can trace their citizenship back to immigrant ancestors who built our country and fueled our economy."
"The president cannot change the Constitution with a Sharpie or a sham executive order," she added. "This order targets innocent newborns who have done absolutely nothing wrong."
Campbell also cautioned residents, saying, "Please do not live in fear. They win if you do."
The order, signed by Trump on Inauguration Day, was slated to take effect on Feb. 19.
At the heart of the lawsuits is the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, ratified in 1868 after the Civil War and the Dred Scott Supreme Court decision, which held that Scott, an enslaved man, wasn’t a citizen despite having lived in a state where slavery was outlawed.
The Trump administration has asserted that children of noncitizens are not “subject to the jurisdiction” of the United States and therefore not entitled to citizenship.
Attorneys for the states have argued that it does — and that has been recognized since the amendment’s adoption, notably in an 1898 U.S. Supreme Court decision. That decision, United States v. Wong Kim Ark, held that the only children who did not automatically receive U.S. citizenship upon being born on U.S. soil were children of diplomats, who have allegiance to another government; enemies present in the U.S. during hostile occupation; those born on foreign ships; and those born to members of sovereign Native American tribes.
The U.S. is among about 30 countries where birthright citizenship — the principle of jus soli or “right of the soil” — is applied. Most are in the Americas, and Canada and Mexico are among them.
