The Trump administration's Justice Department says it plans to take the battle over birthright citizenship to the Supreme Court (SCOTUS) after a federal judge struck down the president's recent executive order restricting birthright citizenship. The Daily Caller reported.
President Donald Trump is presidential order On January 20, his first day in office, he abolished birthright citizenship for undocumented immigrants and immigrants with only temporary legal status. The order was immediately challenged by several state attorneys general, and U.S. District Judge John Coughner, an appointee of President Reagan, blocked the order after a hearing Thursday. (Related: Reagan-appointed judge blocks President Trump's birthright citizenship executive order)
“It's hard for me to understand how a lawyer could say that that's a constitutional mandate,” Coughner said.
🚨BREAKING NEWS🚨 Seattle Federal Judge John C. Cogner, 83, blocks President Trump's birthright citizenship order pic.twitter.com/38f2c15oGS
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) January 23, 2025
The Trump administration intends to continue fighting for this order through legal means and believes it will reach SCOTUS, a Justice Department official told the Caller.
“The Department of Justice will vigorously defend President Trump’s EO, which correctly interprets the 14th Amendment. We look forward to presenting our case on the merits,” a Justice Department spokesperson said.
The Justice Department is also confident that it will ultimately prevail in court.
“We believe we have a very good argument for correctly interpreting the 14th Amendment,” a senior Justice Department official asserted.
Trump administration officials have argued that the original intent of the 14th Amendment, which established birthright citizenship as a constitutional right, was not for children of legal or illegal immigrants born on U.S. soil, but for freed black slaves. He emphasized that the aim was to grant citizenship. (Related: WOLD: Liberal lawyers are wrong — President Trump can and should abolish birthright citizenship)
The clause under discussion is the first sentence of the Fourteenth Amendment. state“All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, are nationals of the United States and of the state in which they reside.” In more modern American history, “subject to the jurisdiction thereof.” has been interpreted to mean a person who must abide by the laws of the United States. supreme court I decided in United States v. Wong Kim Ark (1898) Two Chinese sons who legally reside in the United States but are not eligible for citizenship should be considered U.S. citizens.
The Trump administration is hoping that the conservative-dominated court will accept a somewhat narrower interpretation — what they claim is the “correct interpretation” — backed by the 1866 Civil Rights Act. say“All persons born in the United States, not subject to any foreign power, are hereby declared to be citizens of the United States, with the exception of Indians, who are not taxed.” Individuals would be excluded from the granting of birthright citizenship. Under President Trump's executive order, only children born to at least one American citizen or lawful permanent resident are automatically eligible for citizenship.
RIO GRANDE CITY, TEXAS – DECEMBER 7: A seven-month pregnant El Salvadoran immigrant stands next to a U.S. Border Patrol truck after turning herself in to Border Patrol with her girlfriends on December 7, 2015, near Rio Grande City. She said standing up. Texas. Border Patrol agents say many pregnant women enter the country illegally during the latter half of their term with the intention of giving birth in the United States. According to the U.S. Constitution, everyone born in the United States is a U.S. citizen. Border Patrol agents are detaining hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants trying to avoid capture after entering the United States, as migrant families and unaccompanied minors from Central America turn themselves in to the Border Patrol seeking asylum. Continuing. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)
Many Supreme Court justices, including Samuel Alito, Amy Coney Barrett, and Chief Justice John Roberts, have never publicly discussed jurisdictional issues regarding birthright citizenship.
The United States has a thriving “birth tourism” industry, as foreign nationals regularly travel to the United States to obtain citizenship for their newborn children. The Center for Immigration Studies, a think tank that advocates for immigration reduction, estimated in 2019 that around 72,000 people a year give birth to tourists, guest workers, students and other individuals on long-term visas. Approximately 250,000 babies were born to illegal immigrants in 2016. According to Go to Pew Research.
Approximately 1.3. By 2022, 1 million adults born to illegal immigrants in the United States will be living with someone in the country illegally, according to Pew Research. Found. The percentage of illegal immigrants living in the United States was approximately 4.4. 1 million U.S.-born minor children living in households that year. It's unclear how many “anchor babies,” as they are colloquially known, are born each year in the United States under the Biden administration.
