On January 20, 2025, immigrants’ rights advocates sued the Trump administration over its executive order that seeks to strip certain babies born in the United States of their U.S. 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.
Denying citizenship to U.S.-born children is not only unconstitutional — it’s also a reckless and ruthless repudiation of American values. Birthright citizenship is part of what makes the United States the strong and dynamic nation that it is. As this lawsuit explains, this executive order seeks to repeat one of the gravest errors in American history, by creating a permanent subclass of people born in the U.S. who are denied full rights as Americans.
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.
In other words, birthright citizenship is guaranteed in our Constitution and is absolutely central to what America stands for. Denying citizenship to babies born on U.S. soil is illegal, profoundly cruel, and contrary to our values as a country.
Many expectant couples across the United States now fear what will happen to their newborns. One such couple impacted by this lawsuit are members of New Hampshire Indonesian Community Support. They arrived in 2023, applied for asylum, and their application awaits review. The mom-to-be is in her third trimester. Under this executive order, their baby would be considered an undocumented noncitizen and could be denied basic health care and nutrition, putting the newborn at grave risk at such a vulnerable stage of life.
Such children would also be unable to obtain required identification and, as they grow up, be denied the right to vote, serve on juries, hold certain jobs, and otherwise be a full member of American society, even though they were born in the United States and have never lived anywhere else. As the lawsuit further explains, the order will also stigmatize and send a message of exclusion not only to children directly impacted by the order, but to many others who will have their citizenship questioned because of their race or who their parents are. Excluding people born here will also create a permanent underclass of those who have never been to another country and may be rendered stateless.
The complaint can be found online here. On January 21, 2025, Plaintiffs filed their motion for preliminary injunction.