IL Sues Trump Over Ending Birthright Citizenship

ILLINOIS — In separate lawsuits, Illinois and more than 20 other states are challenging President Donald Trump's executive order ending birthright citizenship in the United States.

Tuesday afternoon, Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul announced that Illinois and three other states — Arizona, Oregon and Washington — have jointly filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, arguing that the order "violates the constitutional rights to which all children born in the U.S. are entitled."

Raoul said that the fact that one of Trump's first acts as president "should be so diametrically opposed to our values as Americans is incredibly disappointing." He added, "The children born in the U.S. to immigrants are entitled to the rights and privileges that go along with U.S. citizenship. We need to discuss bipartisan commonsense immigration reforms, but denying birthright citizenship, which dates back centuries and has been upheld twice by the U.S. Supreme Court, is not the solution. As Attorney General, and as the proud son of Haitian immigrants, I will continue to stand with my fellow attorneys general to defend the constitutional rights of all children born in this country."

On X, Gov. J.B. Pritzker echoed Raoul's sentiments, tweeting, "Trump’s proposal to strip birthright citizenship from those born in this nation is unconstitutional. In Illinois, we follow the law. This is only the start of attempts to undermine the rule of law, and Illinoisans can count on me to stand against unconstitutional actions."

Raoul said the executive order violates the 14th Amendment, adding, "The lawsuit asserts that the president has no authority to override the U.S. Constitution, and no constitutional provision or law empowers the president to determine who should or should not be granted U.S. citizenship at birth."

Raoul also argued the order "will harm hundreds of thousands of American children." A statement from his office went on to say:

"As Attorney General Raoul’s filing explains, birthright citizenship dates back centuries to pre-Civil War America. Although the Supreme Court’s notorious 1857 decision in Dred Scott v. Sandford denied birthright citizenship to the descendants of enslaved people, the post-Civil War United States ratified the 14th Amendment in 1868 to protect citizenship for children born in the country. The Immigration and Nationality Act similarly protects the U.S. citizenship of children born in the United States. Attorney General Raoul’s filing goes on to state that the U.S. Supreme Court has twice upheld birthright citizenship – in 1898 and 1982 – even if a person’s parents are not U.S. citizens. ... If allowed to stand, the infants stripped of their United States citizenship under the executive order will lose their most basic rights and will be forced to live under the threat of deportation. They will lose eligibility for a wide range of federal benefits programs, including their ability to obtain a Social Security number and, as they age, to work lawfully. They will also lose their rights to vote, serve on juries, and to secure passports. Despite the Constitution’s guarantee of citizenship, thousands of children will – for the first time – lose their ability to fully and fairly participate in American society as a citizen."

In a statement, Raoul also said the executive order will cause the states to lose federal funding to programs that they administer, such as Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program and foster care and adoption assistance programs, "which all rely at least in part on the immigration status of the resident being served."

He added, "states will also be required — with no notice and at considerable expense — to immediately begin modifying their operation and administration of benefits programs to account for this change and verify a baby’s immigration status, which will place significant burdens on multiple agencies that operate programs for the benefit of the states’ residents."

The suit filed by attorneys general in Illinois, Arizona, Oregon and Washington is separate from another lawsuit filed by New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin and 17 other attorneys general seeking 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.

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

"If allowed to stand, this Order—for the first time since the Fourteenth Amendment was adopted in 1868—would mean thousands of babies born each year in New Jersey who otherwise would have been citizens will no longer enjoy the privileges and benefits of citizenship," Platkin's office said Tuesday.

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.

“The president cannot, with a stroke of a pen, write the 14th Amendment out of existence, period,” Platkin said.

The American Civil Liberties Union filed a separate lawsuit on Monday to challenge the executive order, calling it an "egregious" overreach.

Both lawsuits name defendants including 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.