CA Sues Trump Over Ending Birthright Citizenship

CALIFORNIA — California and 17 other states are challenging President Donald Trump's executive order ending birthright citizenship in the United States.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta is leading a lawsuit that seeks to block Trump's order from taking effect, saying it violates a constitutional right that has been in existence for over 150 years. Birthright citizenship means anyone born in the U.S. is a citizen, regardless of their parents’ immigration status.

“The President’s executive order attempting to rescind birthright citizenship is blatantly unconstitutional and quite frankly, un-American,” said Bonta.

Under the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, all children born on U.S. soil are automatically granted U.S. citizenship and the rights and privileges that come with it, Bonta said. It was a California case before the U.S. Supreme Court that affirmed that right in 1898. In that case, Wong Kim Ark, a San Francisco-born, Chinese-American man had been denied his re-entry rights after a trip abroad.

"As home of Wong Kim Ark, a San Francisco native who fought – successfully – to have his U.S. citizenship recognized, California condemns the President’s attempts to erase history and ignore 125 years of Supreme Court precedent," Bonta said in a written release. "We are asking a court to immediately block this order from taking effect and ensure that the rights of American-born children impacted by this order remain in effect while litigation proceeds. The President has overstepped his authority by a mile with this order, and we will hold him accountable.”

Trump’s order excludes the following people from automatic citizenship: those whose mothers were not legally in the United States and whose fathers were not U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents; people whose mothers were in the country legally but on a temporary basis and whose fathers were not citizens or legal permanent residents.

According to the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California, almost half — 45 percent — of California children have at least one immigrant parent. In 2023, 10.6 million people or 27 percent of California’s population was foreign born, the institute concluded. It's the highest share of any state and more than double the national average. The end of birthright citizenship would affect millions of California families.

The order instructs the Social Security Administration and Department of State to cease issuing social security numbers and U.S. passports to these children, and directs all federal agencies to treat these children as ineligible for any privilege, right, or benefit that is reserved by law to individuals who are U.S. citizens.

If allowed to stand, the order would strip tens of thousands of children born each year of their ability to fully and fairly be a part of American society as rightful citizens, with all the benefits and privileges, according to the attorney general.

"These children would lose their most basic rights and be forced to live under the threat of deportation," he said. "The executive order would also directly harm California and other states, causing them to risk federal funding for vital programs that they administer, such as Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program; these programs are conditioned on the citizenship and immigration status of the children they serve. In addition, states would be required — on little notice and at considerable expense — to immediately begin modifying their operation and administration of benefits programs to account for this change by February 19, when the order goes into effect."

This new lawsuit, filed in Massachusetts federal court, seeks a preliminary injunction against the executive order. The defendants named in the lawsuit include Trump, the U.S. Department of State and Secretary Marco Rubio, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and Acting Secretary Benjamine Huffman, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Service and Acting Secretary Dorothy Fink, the U.S. Social Security Administration and Acting Commissioner Michelle King and the United States of America.

Also joining the lawsuit were New Jersey, Massachusetts, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Wisconsin, as well as the District of Columbia and the City of San Francisco.

On Inauguration Day Monday, Trump's vows of immigration crackdowns and mass deportations, prompted rallies in California, home to more immigrants than any other state.

A "Protest Rally Against Trump Agenda: No Deportations" was held at Mariachi Plaza in Boyle Heights on Monday.

"The inauguration of a new president in the United States augurs new beginnings, opening of doors and the united search for possibilities for all," Angelica Salas, executive director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights said. "Not this time. A Donald Trump administration threatens to be a stark contrast for immigrant communities everywhere and for a nation that just a few years ago was lauding the contributions of immigrants as essential and key to keeping our nation afloat during the dark days of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Let us be clear: Mr. Trump's promise to change America is dangerous doublespeak. His policies scapegoat and target immigrants without basis on the truth. This approach is cruel, racially biased, and un-American and we will oppose it by remaining united, resilient, and supportive of immigrants everywhere."

Patch Staffer Michelle Rotuno-Johnson and City News Service contributed to this report.