President Donald Trump was sued by immigrant rights groups over his executive order seeking to end birthright citizenship, the latest in a flurry of challenges targeting the early move of his second administration.
The groups represent expectant mothers in the US, and those who plan to have children, who say their kids could be denied citizenship under the Jan. 20 order. The lawsuit was filed Tuesday in the US District Court for the District of Maryland.
“Every day, babies are being born in the United States whose constitutionally guaranteed citizenship will be called into doubt under the Executive Order,” the complaint says.
The suit from the immigrant groups Tuesday joins others recently filed challenging the order, kicking off a legal battle over the administration’s immigration crackdown. The Richmond, Virginia-based US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit would hear any appeal of the district court’s decision in the Maryland suit.
The executive order is also facing challenges from the American Civil Liberties Union in New Hampshire and from a group of Democratic attorneys general in Massachusetts. Appeals in those cases would go to the Boston-based US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, where all active judges are Democratic appointees.
Another coalition of Democratic attorneys general filed a challenge in Washington. That case would be heard by the Ninth Circuit if appealed.
Campaign Pledge
Trump’s measure attempts to end automatic citizenship for children born in the US to immigrant parents who are unauthorized or without permanent residency. The directive calls for agencies not to recognize US citizenship for children born in the US on or after Feb. 19 whose mother is an unauthorized immigrant or on a lawful temporary status and whose father was not a citizen or lawful permanent resident.
The immigrant groups’ complaint Tuesday claims that the order violates the US Constitution’s 14th Amendment, which states “all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States.”
The order also violates a federal statute granting citizenship to those born in the US, the complaint says.
The groups are asking the court to declare the executive order unconstitutional and for preliminary and permanent injunctions barring enforcement of the order.
The suit also seeks a declaration from the court that children born in the US to noncitizen parents covered by the order “are citizens of the United States and are entitled to all of the rights and privileges that such status provides.”
The White House didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Trump said on the campaign trail that after winning the 2024 election he would end birthright citizenship.
Judge Deborah L. Boardman is assigned the case.
CASA Inc., Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project, and Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection represent the plaintiffs.
The case is Casa Inc. v. Trump, D. Md., No. 8:25-cv-00201, complaint 1/21/25.
To contact the reporter on this story:
To contact the editor responsible for this story: