Immigrants’ Rights Advocates File Federal Lawsuit Challenging New Trump Birthright Citizenship Executive Order

WASHINGTON — The ACLU and other immigrants’ rights advocates filed a federal lawsuit today challenging President Trump’s new executive order targeting birthright citizenship.

The case was brought by the ACLU of Maine, ACLU, ACLU of New Hampshire, ACLU of Massachusetts, ACLU of the District of Columbia, Legal Defense Fund, Asian Law Caucus, and Democracy Defenders Fund on behalf of people subjected to the new executive order.

The groups already secured a major Supreme Court victory in June in Trump v. Barbara, protecting babies who would have been denied citizenship under Trump’s first failed executive order concerning birthright citizenship.

In its ruling, the Supreme Court confirmed that the Constitution’s Citizenship Clause puts “the question of citizenship ‘once and forever [to] rest.’”

Despite that, the administration is again trying to restrict birthright citizenship, prompting today’s legal action.

The groups had initially sought to block the new executive order in the existing Barbara case. After the judge in that case indicated that he viewed this challenge as a new lawsuit, the groups withdrew their requests in Barbara and filed this new lawsuit.

The lawsuit, Nathan v. Trump, was filed in federal district court in Washington, D.C.

“The president may keep signing unlawful executive orders, but the Supreme Court was clear when it ruled that neither the president nor Congress can end birthright citizenship,” said ACLU of Maine Legal Director Carol Garvan. “We’ll continue defending the Constitution and fighting for the fundamental citizenship rights of all babies born on U.S. soil.”

“The Constitution is clear, and the Supreme Court has been clear: Birthright citizenship is the law of the land,” said Cody Wofsy, deputy director of the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project and lead counsel. “The Trump administration’s newest attack on this fundamental American principle is just as cruel and illegal as its previous executive order, and it will meet the same fate in court.”

Read the complaint here or in the PDF at the bottom of this page.