Attorney General Anthony G. Brown, joined by 18 other states, announced a legal challenge against an executive order that seeks to end birthright citizenship in the United States. The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, asserts that the order violates the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and Section 1401 of the Immigration and Nationality Act.
The executive order, issued yesterday, has been met with immediate opposition for its potential to strip citizenship from hundreds of thousands of individuals born in the U.S., regardless of their parents’ immigration status. This right to citizenship, according to Attorney General Brown, reflects core American values and has been upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court on multiple occasions since the post-Civil War era.
The states involved in the lawsuit are seeking urgent relief to prevent the executive order from being enacted. They argue that the order not only violates constitutional protections but also imposes significant harms on the states themselves, including the loss of federal funding for critical programs like Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program.
The coalition challenging the order includes New Jersey, Massachusetts, California, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Michigan, Colorado, Delaware, Nevada, Hawaii, Maine, Minnesota, New Mexico, Vermont, Wisconsin, North Carolina, Washington D.C., and the city of San Francisco. These states claim that the sudden policy shift would require them to bear considerable costs in modifying how they administer and operate various benefits programs.
The legal filing highlights the drastic consequences for those affected, including the loss of eligibility for federal benefits, the ability to work lawfully, and the fundamental rights to vote and participate fully in American society.
