In one of his first actions as the 47th President of the United States, Donald Trump declared a national border emergency and signed an executive order aimed at ending birthright citizenship. The move has reignited heated debates over immigration policy and constitutional interpretation, with immediate legal challenges from Democratic leaders.
President Trump’s executive order asserts that the 14th Amendment has been misinterpreted to grant automatic citizenship to children born in the United States to parents without legal status, often referred to as “anchor babies.”
“It is the policy of the United States that no department or agency of the United States government shall issue documents recognizing United States citizenship, or accept documents issued by State, local, or other governments or authorities purporting to recognize United States citizenship,” the order states.
BREAKING: New Jersey Attorney General & over a dozen other states sue to block President Trump’s executive order ending birthright citizenship pic.twitter.com/12mWmuowXz
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Specifically, the directive denies citizenship to individuals born under two conditions:
- If the mother was unlawfully present in the United States at the time of birth and the father was neither a U.S. citizen nor a lawful permanent resident.
- If the mother’s presence was lawful but temporary, and the father lacked U.S. citizenship or lawful permanent residency.
The executive order argues that the language of the 14th Amendment—particularly the phrase “subject to the jurisdiction thereof”—excludes children born to individuals in the U.S. illegally or on temporary visas.
“The Fourteenth Amendment has never been interpreted to extend citizenship universally to everyone born within the United States,” the order states. “Consistent with this understanding, Congress has further specified through legislation that ‘a person born in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof’ is a national and citizen of the United States at birth, 8 U.S.C. 1401, generally mirroring the Fourteenth Amendment’s text.”
On Tuesday, a coalition of 18 Democratic state attorneys general, along with the city of San Francisco and the District of Columbia, filed a lawsuit to block the order. They argued that the president lacks the authority to unilaterally rewrite constitutional provisions or long-standing statutes.
“The President has no authority to rewrite or nullify a constitutional amendment or duly enacted statute,” the lawsuit states. “Nor is he empowered by any other source of law to limit who receives United States citizenship at birth.”
The lawsuit labels Trump’s order as a “flagrantly unlawful attempt to strip hundreds of thousands of American-born children of their citizenship based on their parentage.”
The legal filing highlights the potential impact of the order on an estimated 150,000 children born each year to parents who are neither U.S. citizens nor lawful residents. Many of these children could lose access to essential services, including basic healthcare, foster care, and educational interventions for students with disabilities.
“They will all be deportable, and many will be stateless,” the lawsuit claims, emphasizing the severe consequences for affected families.
The 14th Amendment, ratified in 1868, states: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States.” Legal scholars and courts have long interpreted this to grant birthright citizenship broadly, including to the children of undocumented immigrants.
Opponents of Trump’s order argue that the amendment’s language is clear and that changing its interpretation requires a constitutional amendment, not an executive order. Supporters of the move, however, contend that the original intent of the amendment was to exclude individuals without full legal allegiance to the United States, such as foreign diplomats or occupying forces.
The order is consistent with Trump’s hardline stance on immigration, a key pillar of his campaign and presidency. By declaring a national border emergency, Trump has signaled his commitment to tighter border controls and stricter immigration enforcement.
President Trump has defended the executive order as a necessary step to protect American sovereignty and uphold the rule of law. “This is about ensuring that citizenship is reserved for those who have a legitimate and lawful claim to it,” he stated in a press conference.
When asked about the legal challenges, Trump expressed confidence in the order’s validity, saying, “We’re doing what’s right for the American people, and I believe the courts will agree with us.”