Honk News (Jacksonville, FL) – Women expecting children nationwide are banding together to initiate legal action against the federal government regarding the legality of President Donald Trump’s executive order that abolishes birthright citizenship in the United States, as indicated by court documents.
Legal representatives in Maryland, Massachusetts, and Washington state have initiated lawsuits for expecting parents following a recent directive from Trump, which has faced significant criticism from federal judges for being “blatantly unconstitutional” as it encounters various legal challenges.
A coalition of 18 states along with the cities of San Francisco and Washington, D.C., has united to contest the directive, having submitted a collective lawsuit in federal district court last Tuesday, January 21.
“Plaintiffs bring this action to protect their states, localities, and residents from the President’s flagrantly unlawful attempt to strip hundreds of thousands American-born children of their citizenship based on their parentage,” the complaint says.
“The principle of birthright citizenship has been enshrined in the Constitution for more than 150 years. The Citizenship Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment unambiguously and expressly confers citizenship on ‘[a]ll persons born’ in and ‘subject to the jurisdiction’ of the United States. More than 125 years ago, the Supreme Court confirmed that this entitles a child born in the United States to noncitizen parents to automatic citizenship.”
A legal action has been initiated in Massachusetts targeting Trump and the U.S. government. The filing highlights that Congress later formalized this understanding in the Immigration and Nationality Act, and it points out that the executive branch has consistently acknowledged that efforts to revoke citizenship from children due to their parents’ status would be deemed “unquestionably unconstitutional,” according to the complaint.
“President Trump now seeks to abrogate this well-established and longstanding Constitutional principle by executive fiat,” the suit says.
Five expectant mothers involved in a lawsuit in federal district court in Maryland, alongside two immigrant advocacy organizations, have denounced the recent order as a “blatant infringement of the Fourteenth Amendment” and the historical context of those laws, “which ensure the essential right to citizenship for all children born in the United States,” according to their legal filing.
“The President has no unilateral authority to override rights recognized in the Constitution or in federal statutes,” the complaint states. “The principle of birthright citizenship is a foundation of our national democracy, is woven throughout the laws of our nation, and has shaped a shared sense of national belonging for generation after generation of citizens.”
In a significant legal move, three expectant mothers from Washington state — Alicia Chavarria Lopez, Cherly Norales Castillo, and Delmy Franco Aleman — have teamed up with the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project to initiate a class action lawsuit in federal court. They argue that the executive order issued by Trump could render their children “stateless” and prevent them from being acknowledged as citizens.
“Citizenship is the fundamental marker of belonging in this country,” the suit alleges. “Indeed, without citizenship, the babies soon to be born in this country whom President Trump unilaterally and unconstitutionally seeks to strip of citizenship will be left without any legal immigration status.”
Recently, several high-profile figures and government agencies have found themselves embroiled in legal challenges concerning birthright citizenship. Among those named are a former president, a prominent Secretary of State, and various federal departments, including Justice, Homeland Security, and Agriculture, as well as key health services organizations.
The directive from Trump contends that the 14th Amendment has consistently excluded individuals whose parents are undocumented in the U.S., as they are not deemed “subject to the jurisdiction” of the country, according to the statement.
