As the US Supreme Courtroom heard oral arguments on Thursday, Might 15, defending the nationwide injunction towards President Trump’s government order ending birthright citizenship for Caribbean and different immigrants, a coalition of 20 attorneys normal says they “stand collectively” to defend the difficulty and the rule of legislation.
“We have been proud to face collectively to defend birthright citizenship and the rule of legislation on the US Supreme Courtroom at the moment,” mentioned the coalition in a joint assertion. “For 127 years, the legislation has been clear: if you’re born on this nation, you’re a citizen of the US.
“Administrations of each events have constantly revered that proper ever since,” the attorneys normal added. “As each court docket to have thought of the coverage agrees, the President’s try to finish birthright citizenship is patently unconstitutional.
“The Trump administration’s argument earlier than the Supreme Courtroom at the moment — that the president ought to be permitted to strip American citizenship from folks primarily based solely on the state during which they occur to be born — would upend settled legislation and produce widespread chaos and disruption,” they continued. “The president can’t rewrite the Structure and contradict the Supreme Courtroom’s personal holdings with the stroke of a pen.”
The attorneys normal of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and the District of Columbia joined New York Lawyer Common Letitia James in defending birthright citizenship for Caribbean and different immigrants.
In January, Caribbean immigrants’ rights advocates sued the Trump administration over its government order that seeks to strip sure infants born in the US of their US citizenship.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), ACLU of New Hampshire, ACLU of Maine, ACLU of Massachusetts, Asian Regulation Caucus, State Democracy Defenders Fund, and Authorized Protection Fund filed the case on behalf of organizations with Caribbean and different members whose infants born on US soil will probably be denied citizenship underneath the order.
They included New Hampshire Indonesian Neighborhood Assist, the League of United Latin American Residents (LULAC), and Make the Highway New York, an immigration advocacy group with over 28,000 members of Caribbean and different origins.
The lawsuit prices the Trump administration with flouting the US Structure’s dictates, congressional intent, and longstanding US Supreme Courtroom precedent.
“Denying citizenship to US-born kids shouldn’t be solely unconstitutional; It’s additionally a reckless and ruthless repudiation of American values,” mentioned Anthony D. Romero, government director of the American Civil Liberties Union. “Birthright citizenship is a part of what makes the US the sturdy and dynamic nation that it’s.
“This order seeks to repeat one of many gravest errors in American historical past, by making a everlasting subclass of individuals born within the US who’re denied full rights as Individuals,” he added. “We is not going to let this assault on newborns and future generations of Individuals go unchallenged.
“The Trump administration’s overreach is so egregious that we’re assured we’ll finally prevail,” Romero continued.
The ACLU mentioned Birthright citizenship is the precept that each child born in the US is a US citizen.
It mentioned the Structure’s 14th Modification ensures the citizenship of all kids born in the US, with the extraordinarily slender exception of kids of overseas diplomats, no matter race, coloration, or ancestry.
Particularly, the 14th Modification states that “all individuals born or naturalized in the US, and topic to the jurisdiction thereof, are residents of the US and of the state whereby they reside.”
The ACLU famous that the 14th Modification was ratified in 1868, overturning the Dred Scott resolution that denied Black Individuals the rights and protections of US citizenship.
In 1898, the US Supreme Courtroom confirmed in United States v. Wong Kim Ark that kids born in the US to Caribbean and different immigrant dad and mom have been entitled to US citizenship, mentioned the ACLU, including that “the precept has remained an undisturbed constitutional bedrock for over a century.”
“Birthright citizenship is assured in our Structure and is completely central to what America stands for,“ mentioned Cody Wofsy, deputy director of the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Mission and lead lawyer on this case. “Denying citizenship to infants born on US soil is unlawful, profoundly merciless, and opposite to our values as a rustic.”
Theo Oshiro, co-executive director of Make the Highway New York, mentioned, “Birthright citizenship is a cornerstone of our democracy.
“Our members, who come from all around the world, have created vibrant communities, loving households, and constructed this nation over generations,“ he mentioned. “To disclaim their kids the identical primary rights as all different kids born in the US is an affront to primary values of equity, equality, and inclusivity.
“We’re grateful for the bravery of our members who’ve taken on this case, and are ready to battle alongside them,“ Oshiro continued.
SangYeob Kim, senior employees lawyer on the ACLU of New Hampshire, additionally mentioned that, “Each baby born in the US ought to be born with the identical rights as each different baby, and that’s why the US Structure ensures that no politician can ever resolve who amongst these born in our nation is worthy of citizenship.
“Trump’s government order instantly opposes our Structure, values, and historical past, and it might create a everlasting, multigenerational subclass of individuals born within the US however who’re denied full rights,“ Kim added.
The ACLU mentioned the order may even stigmatize and ship a message of exclusion not solely to kids instantly impacted by the order, however to many others who could have their citizenship questioned due to their race or who their dad and mom are.
“Excluding folks born right here may even create a everlasting underclass of those that have by no means been to a different nation and could also be rendered stateless,“ it added.
Tianna Mays, authorized director for the State Democracy Defenders Fund, mentioned Birthright citizenship is “a transparent precept of US legislation.
“Any problem to that is an assault on the rule of legislation and the protections of the 14th Modification,“ she mentioned. “We’ll firmly oppose any efforts to undermine these elementary rights.”
James mentioned that she and a coalition of 18 states, in addition to the Metropolis of San Francisco, are difficult Trump’s Govt Order ending birthright citizenship, in violation of the constitutional proper given to all kids born in the US.
James and the coalition filed a lawsuit within the US District Courtroom for the District of Massachusetts in search of to cease the President’s “illegal motion, which violates the 14th Modification of the US Structure and can hurt American kids.“
“The nice promise of our nation is that everybody born here’s a citizen of the US, capable of obtain the American dream,“ James instructed Caribbean Life. “This elementary proper to birthright citizenship, rooted within the 14th Modification and born from the ashes of slavery, is a cornerstone of our nation’s dedication to justice.
“Our structure shouldn’t be open to reinterpretation by government order or presidential decree,“ she added. “President Trump’s try and undermine the elemental proper to birthright citizenship isn’t just unconstitutional, it’s profoundly harmful.”
Lawyer Common James and the coalition search to invalidate the Govt Order and cease any actions to implement it.
The states requested instant aid via a Preliminary Injunction filed with the court docket to stop the manager order from taking impact.
Lawyer Common James’ submitting notes that the US Supreme Courtroom has twice upheld birthright citizenship, reinforcing it because the legislation of the land, whatever the immigration standing of the newborn’s dad and mom.
“If allowed to face, the Govt Order would imply, for the primary time because the 14th modification was adopted in 1868, infants born in New York and across the nation, who would have been residents, will now not be entitled to citizenship underneath federal legislation,“ James mentioned.
“These kids will probably be ineligible for a variety of federal advantages applications,“ she added. “They are going to be unable to acquire a Social Safety quantity and, as they age, to work lawfully. Their entry to well being care and important meals advantages will probably be positioned in jeopardy.
“They are going to lack the best to vote, serve on juries, and run for sure workplaces,“ the New York Lawyer Common continued. “Regardless of the Structure’s assure of citizenship, these kids will, for the primary time because the 14th modification was adopted, lose their capacity to totally and pretty be part of American society as a citizen with all its advantages and privileges.”.
Caribbean-American Democratic U.S. Rep. Yvette D. Clarke additionally condemned a number of government orders issued by Trump, together with his decree to finish birthright citizenship.
“With an influence no president has ever identified earlier than, he has exactly spelled out how he plans to manipulate within the years to come back – and that’s by decree,“ Clarke, the daughter of Jamaican immigrants, who represents the ninth Congressional District in Brooklyn, instructed Caribbean Life.
“Amongst his many despicable instructions, he has resurrected previous, failed insurance policies just like the Muslim Ban and Stay in Mexico, furthered present anti-DEI and anti-fairness practices, withdrew our nation from the Paris Local weather Settlement and World Well being Group, and launched disturbing new insurance policies like his decree to finish birthright citizenship as a constitutionally enshrined safety,“ added Clarke, the newly-elected President of the Congressional Black Caucus.
“I used to be born in Flatbush, Brooklyn, 60 years in the past to 2 Jamaican immigrants. My citizenship is my birthright. If Donald Trump needs to inform me, my household, my neighbors in Brooklyn and throughout New York and round the US that our citizenship is illegitimate, and we’re not correct Individuals, then he ought to count on to listen to from the tens of tens of millions of Individuals he simply disgraced,“ the U.S. Rep. continued.
“We’re witnessing a shameless abuse of energy, and I can say with certainty the immigrant neighborhood is not going to stand by because it progresses additional,“ Clarke mentioned. “We is not going to yield to Mr. Trump’s impropriety, illegality, and cruelty. He is not going to intimidate us.”
