‘Presidents are not kings": 22 states file suit to stop Trump's executive order blocking birthright citizenship

Attorneys general from 22 states filed a lawsuit Tuesday to block President Donald Trump's move to end a century-old immigration practice known as birthright citizenship.

UNN reports, citing the Associated Press and El Pais.

On Tuesday, just hours after Trump signed an executive order to end the centuries-old immigration practice known as birthright citizenship, 22 states filed a pair of lawsuits to stop it.

Background

Under the 14th Amendment, ratified in 1868, everyone born in the United States is guaranteed U.S. citizenship - regardless of their parents' immigration status, whether they are undocumented immigrants, students on visas or even tourists.

Getting rid of this legal precedent, directly supported by the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, was a promise Republicans made on day one, and they kept it.

The president-elect’s decision

Trump’s roughly 700-word executive order states that children born in the United States to foreign parents will no longer be considered citizens.

The argument is that because children of noncitizens are not "subject to the jurisdiction" of the country, they are not protected by the Constitution. The order also challenges the idea that the 14th Amendment, considered one of the most important amendments and ending slavery after the Civil War, automatically grants citizenship to anyone born in the United States.

All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to its jurisdiction are citizens of the United States and of the state in which they reside, the amendment states.

Opposition to blocking birthright citizenship

Democratic attorneys general and immigrant rights advocates argue that the issue of birthright citizenship is settled by law and that while presidents have broad authority, they are not kings.

New Jersey Attorney General Matt Platkin, a Democrat, said Tuesday that he is leading a group of 18 states, the District of Columbia and the city of San Francisco that are suing to block Trump’s order.

Connecticut Attorney General William Tong, a birthright citizen and the country’s first elected attorney general of Chinese descent, said the lawsuit is personal to him.

The 14th Amendment says what it means, and it means what it says: If you were born on American soil, you are an American. Period. Period. .. There is no legitimate legal debate on this issue. But the fact that Trump is deeply wrong will not stop him from now causing serious harm to American families like mine, he said.

Recall

At the Washington National Cathedral, the Rev. Marianne Edgar Badde appealed to President Trump for mercy. She called for protecting the rights of the LGBTQ community and immigrants who are now feeling afraid.