SAN FRANCISCO– The legal battle over some of President Trump’s executive orders has already begun as California joined 17 other states Tuesday in suing the White House over Trump’s new executive order ending birthright citizenship.
The complaint, filed by 18 Democratic attorneys general, alleges that the president is attempting to eliminate a “well-established and long-standing constitutional principle” by executive order. San Francisco and Washington, DC are also two cities that have also joined the lawsuit.
President Trump’s attempt to eliminate the birthright is a “patently illegal attempt to strip hundreds of thousands of children born in the United States of their citizenship based on their parentage,” the lawsuit says.
The lawsuit accused Trump of seeking to eliminate a “well-established and long-standing constitutional principle” by executive order.
“The President has no authority to rewrite or rescind any constitutional amendment or duly enacted law. Nor is he empowered by any other source of law to limit who receives U.S. citizenship at birth,” the lawsuit says .
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Santa Clara County leaders reaffirmed their commitment to families amid Trump’s new immigration policies.
Four more states filed a similar suit later in the day, asking a federal court to block the implementation or enforcement of the executive order, bringing the total number of states to 22.
Birthright citizenship means that anyone born in the United States is automatically a citizen, regardless of their parents’ immigration status. This is guaranteed by the 14th Amendment, ratified more than 150 years ago.
Trump’s order directed federal agencies – starting next month – to stop issuing citizenship documents to children born in the United States to undocumented mothers or mothers residing in the country on a temporary visa, if the father is not a U.S. citizen or permanent resident.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta held a news conference in San Francisco on Tuesday to oppose the executive order, saying, “I have a message for President Trump: I will see you in court.”
“The president has chosen to begin his second term by flouting one of our country’s long-standing fundamental rights and ignoring our country’s founding document, a terrifying tone to set for the remainder of his term,” Bonta said during the press conference.
According to the lawsuit, approximately 150,000 children born each year to two non-citizen parents who lack legal status could lose access to basic health care, foster care and early interventions for infants, toddlers and students with disabilities.
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“They will all be deportable and many will be stateless,” the lawsuit says.
States have warned that the executive order would also cause them to lose federal funding for programs that provide services to children regardless of their immigration status.
While Trump’s order purports to unilaterally end birthright, only the U.S. Supreme Court can determine how the 14th Amendment applies.
The states are seeking to invalidate the executive order and halt any action taken to implement it. Their lawsuit seeks a preliminary injunction to immediately stop the order from going into effect.
On Tuesday, nonprofit groups in Massachusetts and New Hampshire also filed federal lawsuits challenging Trump’s birthright citizenship executive order.
The U.S. Supreme Court also upheld this right in an 1898 case involving a San Francisco man who was the child of immigrant parents.
ABC7 News contributed to this story.
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