Birthright citizenship is the principle that every baby born in the United States is a U.S. citizen. Trump's recent executive order violates the plain language of the 14th Amendment, puts newborns in harm’s way, and flouts fundamental American values.
On January 20th, 2025, immigrants' rights advocates sued the Trump administration just hours after he issued an executive order that strips certain babies born in the United States of their citizenship. The case was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, ACLU of New Hampshire, ACLU of Maine, ACLU of Massachusetts, Asian Law Caucus, State Democracy Defenders Fund, and Legal Defense Fund on behalf of organizations with members whose babies born on U.S. soil will be denied citizenship under the order, including New Hampshire Indonesian Community Support, League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), and Make the Road New York. The lawsuit charges the Trump administration with flouting the Constitution’s dictates, congressional intent, and longstanding Supreme Court precedent.
Birthright citizenship is the principle that every baby born in the United States is a U.S. citizen. The Constitution’s 14th Amendment guarantees the citizenship of all children born in the United States (with the extremely narrow exception of children of foreign diplomats) regardless of race, color, or ancestry. Specifically, it states that “all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside.”
The 14th Amendment was ratified in 1868, overturning the Dred Scott decision that denied Black Americans the rights and protections of U.S. citizenship. In 1898, the U.S. Supreme Court confirmed in United States v. Wong Kim Ark that children born in the United States to immigrant parents were entitled to U.S. citizenship, and the principle has remained an undisturbed constitutional bedrock for over a century.
On February 10th, 2025, the ACLU argued in front of U.S. District Judge Joseph N. Laplante that. the Trump administration was flouting the Constitution’s dictates, congressional intent, and longstanding Supreme Court precedent. The judge ruled in our favor, issuing a preliminary injunction order from the bench.
