birthright Archives - usatoday24

Judge hears lawsuit over Trump’s order to cancel birthright citizenship

January 23, 2025 by usatoday24

A federal judge in Seattle will hear first arguments Thursday in a lawsuit filed by several states seeking to block President Donald Trump’s executive order ending the constitutional guarantee of birthright citizenship regardless of parents’ immigration status. Federal Judge John Coughenour scheduled the session to consider the request from Arizona, Illinois, Oregon and Washington. The case is one of five lawsuits brought by 22 states and several immigrant advocacy groups across the country. The lawsuits include personal testimony from prosecutors who are U.S. citizens by birthright, and names of pregnant women who fear their children will not become U.S. citizens. The order signed by Trump on the day of his inauguration is scheduled to go into effect on February 19. It could affect thousands of people born in the country, according to one of the lawsuits. In 2022, there were approximately 255,000 births of citizen children to mothers living in the country illegally and approximately 153,000 births to both parents in such a situation, according to the lawsuit filed by the four states in Seattle. The United States is among about 30 countries where birthright citizenship, the principle of jus soli or “right of the soil,” applies. Most are in the American Continent, including Canada and Mexico. The lawsuits argue that the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guarantees citizenship to people born and naturalized in the country and states have interpreted the amendment that way for a century. Ratified in 1868 after the Civil War, the amendment reads: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State in which they reside.” Trump’s order affirms that children of non-Americans are not subject to US jurisdiction and directs federal agencies not to recognize citizenship for children who do not have at least one parent who is a citizen. A key case on the issue unfolded in 1898. The Supreme Court held that Wong Kim Ark, who was born in San Francisco to Chinese immigrants, was a U.S. citizen because he was born in the country. After a trip abroad, he faced denial of reentry by the federal government on the grounds that he was not a citizen under the Chinese Exclusion Act. But some advocates of immigration restrictions have argued that that case clearly applied to children born to parents who were both legal immigrants. They say it is less clear whether it applies to children born to parents who do not have a residence permit. Trump’s executive order prompted attorneys general to share their personal connections to birthright citizenship. For example, Connecticut state Attorney General William Tong, a birthright U.S. citizen and the nation’s first elected Chinese American attorney general, said the lawsuit was personal to him. “There is no legitimate legal debate on this issue. But the fact that Trump is completely wrong will not stop him from causing serious harm right now to American families like mine,” Tong said this week. One of the lawsuits includes the case of a pregnant woman, identified as “Carmen,” who is not a citizen, but has lived in the United States for more than 15 years and has a pending visa application that could give her permanent residency status. “Depriving children of the ‘priceless treasure’ of citizenship is a serious injury,” the lawsuit says. “It denies them the full membership in American society to which they are entitled.”

The 22 states that sued the Trump administration over the executive order that wants to eliminate the right to birthright citizenship

January 22, 2025 by usatoday24

Image source, Reuters Item information Author, Drafting Author’s title, BBC News World 5 hours It is the first appeal in what will likely be a long legal fight over the immigration policy of the new Donald Trump administration. Attorneys general from 22 U.S. states filed lawsuits to block the executive order, signed by the president shortly after his inauguration on Monday, to end birthright citizenship. This is a centuries-old immigration practice that derives from the 14th amendment of the US Constitution, which guarantees that children born in the United States will be citizens regardless of the immigration status of their parents. Trump’s order, titled “Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship,” stipulates that the administration will no longer recognize automatic citizenship for children born on American soil to immigrant parents who are in the country illegally, as long as when neither parent is a US citizen or legal permanent resident. In his first term, Trump threatened to take similar measures, but did not carry them out. “It violates constitutional rights” The first lawsuit, filed in Massachusetts by a coalition of 18 states including New Jersey, New York and California, alleges that Trump’s executive order violates the constitutional rights of thousands of children. He adds that this “imposes undue costs” on local jurisdictions that would lose federal funding linked to children’s health insurance. Image source, EPA photo caption, Democratic attorneys general say Trump’s executive order violates the constitutional rights of thousands of children. The lawsuit accuses Trump of attempting to eliminate a “long-standing and well-established constitutional principle.” “The president has no authority to rewrite or repeal a constitutional amendment or a duly enacted law. Nor is he empowered by any other source of law to limit who receives U.S. citizenship at birth,” the lawsuit states. The District of Columbia and the city of San Francisco also joined this lawsuit. Another group of four states – Arizona, Oregon, Illinois and Washington – filed a separate lawsuit in Seattle. Several civil rights and legal organizations also filed legal challenges in New Hampshire and Massachusetts, “on behalf of parents whose children would be ineligible for citizenship” under Trump’s executive order. Democratic attorneys general and immigrant rights advocates say the issue of birthright citizenship is settled law and that while presidents have broad authority, they are “not kings.” “For more than 150 years, our country has followed the same basic rule: Babies born in this country are American citizens,” New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin said at a news conference Tuesday. “(Trump) has the right to enact policy that he believes is right for the country,” but “this is an extreme and unprecedented act,” Platkin said. “This is not just an attack on the law. It is an attack on the very essence of this nation.” “The presidents of this country have vast power. But they are not kings,” Platkin said. He added: “The president cannot, with the stroke of a pen, erase the 14th Amendment from existence. Period.” For her part, New York Attorney General Letitia James said that Trump’s measure “is not only unconstitutional, it is deeply dangerous.” Long legal battle Image source, Getty Images photo caption, Legal scholars point out that Trump cannot end birthright citizenship with an executive order. The series of legal challenges indicates that Trump’s effort will likely face a lengthy legal battle and could be stalled in court, preventing it from taking effect next month as planned. Most legal scholars agree that the president cannot end birthright citizenship with an executive order. “He is doing something that is going to upset a lot of people, but ultimately this will be decided by the courts,” Saikrishna Prakash, a constitutional expert and professor at the University of Virginia School of Law, told the BBC. “This is not something he can decide on his own.” But the White House has indicated it is ready to take on the states in court, calling the lawsuits “nothing more than an extension of the left’s resistance.” “Radical leftists can choose to swim against the tide and reject the overwhelming will of the people, or they can join in and work with President Trump,” said White House deputy press secretary Harrison Fields. Subscribe here to our new newsletter to receive a selection of our best content of the week every Friday. And remember that you can receive notifications in our app. Download the latest version and activate them.

They ask for calm before Trump’s order that denies birthright citizenship

January 22, 2025 by usatoday24

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.”

Pregnant mothers and organizations demand to protect citizenship by birthright

January 22, 2025 by usatoday24

On the first day of his second term as president, Donald Trump signed a series of decrees and in particularthe immigration environment captured the spotlight, after one of those decrees, called “Protecting the meaning and value of American citizenship,” aims to redefine birthright citizenship, the process that guarantees all born In the United States you automatically obtain citizenship, but this is not the case for the children of immigrants. Given the controversial decision, a group of Democratic Party governors took one of the measures applied by the president to court on his first day, but they were not the only ones to raise their voices, as five pregnant mothers and the organizations CASA and the Project of Asylum Seekers (ASAP) filed a lawsuit in response to the issuance of the Executive Order. Through a joint statement, The lawsuit charges that it is intended to end the constitutional right of birthright citizenship explicitly provided for in the Fourteenth Amendment. That lawsuit was filed in the District of Maryland and is being litigated by ASAP, CASA, and the Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection (ICAP) at Georgetown Law School. What does the order signed by Trump say? As detailed by the White House itself, “The 14th Amendment has never been interpreted as a universal extension of citizenship to all persons born in the United States… has always excluded from birthright citizenship persons who were born in the United States but (who) are not ‘subject to its jurisdiction.’” In that sense, The Federal Government establishes that children of undocumented immigrants are not “subject to the jurisdiction” of the United States and, therefore, should not be considered citizens. Demands from the womb “When I fled persecution in my country, I found a new home in the United States and I am proud of the life my husband and I have built in this country over the past six years,” said Monica, a pregnant mother and ASAP member. , asylum seeker and plaintiff named in the lawsuit. “I am shocked that the government does not want my American-born son to have American citizenship. I am afraid for my son and for our family, especially since we cannot return to our country or get our son another citizenship; “I don’t know what we will do,” he continued. Another plaintiff is Maribel, a member of CASA who has lived in the United States for almost two decades. She has two children who were born in this country and today she is pregnant again, she shared: “I am afraid that my unborn child will be denied the basic rights that my other children enjoy, including access to healthcare and quality education. Without the protections of American citizenship, the Trump administration could even try to take my baby from me and our family and deport them to a country they have never known. “It is deeply wrong to subject a newborn baby to such cruelty.” “This Executive Order undermines the very essence of our democracy and represents a direct attack on the constitution. By attempting to deny U.S. citizenship to children born within our borders based solely on their parents’ immigration status, President Trump is attempting to upend centuries of history and legal protections established through executive orders. This cannot be tolerated,” said Nicholas Katz, General Counsel of the CASA organization. “CASA is committed to protecting our members and defending their rights, while continuing to fight for a fair and equitable immigration system, based on dignity and respect for all people,” he said. “Birthright citizenship is guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment and has been recognized by the Supreme Court as the law of the land for more than 100 years.”said Rupa Bhattacharyya, Legal Director of ICAP. “The President of the United States does not have the power to amend the Constitution with the stroke of a pen in an Executive Order. “We are confident that the Court will correct this overreach and ensure that all babies born in the United States receive their rightful citizenship and all the privileges and benefits that flow from it.” “This executive order has created chaos and confusion in immigrant communities and among our members, as many asylum seekers wonder if their American-born children will have to apply for asylum,” said Swapna Reddy, co-executive director of ASAP. “Our members, like so many other immigrant parents in the United States right now, are afraid: afraid that their children will not be able to live a stable life without fear and afraid that their children do not belong in the only country they have ever known. “More than 150 years ago, Black people worked together to ensure a more equal right to American citizenship, and now we are proud to defend this right for our members, more than 90,000 of whom are Black,” he said. Keep reading:· Former Ambassador Landau sees “opportunities” between the US and Mexico with Trump, but orders will set a tough binational agenda· New law will allow ICE to detain almost any undocumented immigrant, warns former agency official· Tom Homan on mass deportation: “ICE agents from all over the country will be on the streets from the beginning”

Log In

Sign In

Forgot password?

Your password reset link appears to be invalid or expired.

Log in

Privacy Policy

Add to Collection

No Collections