Migrant leaders asked undocumented parents to remain calm in the face of President Trump’s executive order ending the right to birthright citizenship in the United States.
“It is pure political rhetoric to satisfy those who supported him becoming president,” said immigration lawyer Alex Gálvez.
In one of his first acts in office, Trump signed an executive order to end birthright citizenship for children of undocumented immigrants and those who entered on temporary visas, either tourist or student visas.
This is a right that is granted automatically to those born in the country.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta filed a lawsuit challenging President Trump’s executive order.
“Attempting to rescind birthright citizenship is blatantly unconstitutional and downright un-American,” said Prosecutor Bonta.
“California condemns the President’s attempts to erase history and ignore 125 years of Supreme Court precedent.”
Therefore, he noted that they are asking a court to immediately block this order from taking effect and ensure that the rights of children born in the United States affected by this order remain in effect while the litigation takes place.
“The President has exceeded his authority with this order and we will hold him accountable.”
Bonta joins 18 state attorneys general and pro-immigrant organizations such as the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) that have sued Trump to prevent his executive order eliminating the right to birthright citizenship from taking effect.
Under the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution, all children born on American soil are automatically guaranteed citizenship and the rights and privileges that come with it.
Parental fear
Attorney Gálvez said that the lawsuits against him will freeze Trump’s order, and therefore, undocumented parents who are expecting their babies should not feel any fear of not being able to register them as citizens of this country.
“It is not a retroactive order either,” he said.
He stated that the matter will be resolved in the Supreme Court, and it will not last long because there are already precedents.
He added that because the right to citizenship is guaranteed in the United States Constitution, a two-thirds vote of both houses of Congress is required to amend it.
“A president by decree cannot change it. We do not live in a dictatorship but in a democracy; and Trump cannot modify that right without two-thirds of the vote. If you want to do it you have to negotiate with the legislators.”
Meanwhile, he asked immigrant parents not to worry that their children will be born with the full right to be citizens of the United States, and they will be able to register them as such without any problem.
In 1898, the United States Supreme Court upheld this right in a case brought by Wong Kim Ark, a San Francisco-born Chinese-American who had been denied his right to re-enter the country after a trip abroad.
In the lawsuit, 18 state attorneys general – led by California, New Jersey and Massachusetts – argue that President Trump’s unprecedented executive order violates the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution and Section 1401 of the Immigration and Nationality Act and that its entry into force should be immediately blocked while the litigation unfolds.
In a December interview with Meet the Press On NBC, Trump declared that children of undocumented immigrant parents should be deported along with their parents, even if they were born in the United States.
“I don’t want to break families. So the only way to not separate the family is to keep them together and send them all back.”
Keep calm
Juan José Gutiérrez, director of the Coalition for the Full Rights of Immigrants, even asked immigrant parents who are waiting for a child not to be afraid, and to first of all focus on ensuring that their baby is born healthy.
“They should know that the executive order to deny citizenship to children born in the United States is not law. It is a decree that conflicts with the Constitution, and we have already gone to court to overthrow it.”
He stressed that he cannot proceed because the Constitution needs to be modified, and for that two-thirds of the Federal Congress must vote.
“If it were approved by the Senate and the House of Representatives, it would then have to go to the legislatures of the 50 states, and pass with a margin of 66% or more with at least the vote of 33, 34 states” .
Gutiérrez considered it very difficult for that to happen.
“Trump said he was giving 90 days for his decree to take effect. What is going to happen is that before that date, the federal courts, especially the most progressive ones, like California, are going to block this order.”.
He stressed that the Constitution is the supreme law of the United States, and it cannot be changed just for the sake of it.
“So I tell immigrant parents not to be afraid. Rest assured because it remains to be seen if they will be denied citizenship. For that we are going to fight with everything.”
A subclass without rights
Anthony D. Romero, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union, one of the plaintiff organizations, said the order seeks to repeat one of the gravest mistakes in American history by creating a permanent underclass of people born in the United States who are denied all rights as an American.
“We will not allow this attack on newborns and future generations of Americans to go unanswered. “The Trump administration’s overreach is so egregious that we are confident we will ultimately prevail.”