FARGO 鈥� North Dakota and Minnesota have joined a lawsuit over President Donald Trump鈥檚 move to end birthright citizenship.
Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird, a Republican, announced Monday, Feb. 3, that she would spearhead an 18-state effort to defend Trump鈥檚 executive order to end a 鈥渂irthright citizenship loophole for birth tourism and illegal aliens鈥� against a lawsuit filed by Democratic-led states. The states that joined Iowa, including North Dakota and South Dakota, supported the executive order with an amicus brief, or a court filing from a group that is not a defendant or plaintiff in a lawsuit.
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All 18 states have Republican attorneys general.
The courts haven鈥檛 ruled on whether the 14th Amendment covers a child whose parents came to the U.S. illegally to have a child, told The Forum on Tuesday.
鈥淚t has never been decided that if you could just sneak over in the middle of the night and have your baby in the ER, you鈥檝e got yourself a U.S. citizen there,鈥� Wrigley said. 鈥淣ow, it is going to be tougher for you to be deported. This is going to work out really well for you. What country would provide that incentive?鈥�
On his first day in office on Jan. 20, Trump signed an executive order that he said would protect the 鈥渕eaning and value of American citizenship.鈥� The 14th Amendment says those who are 鈥渂orn or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens鈥� of the U.S.
The amendment was approved in 1868 to ensure citizenship to all people born in the U.S., including people brought to the country against their will as slaves.
The Trump order is focused on those who are not subject to the country鈥檚 jurisdiction, specifically when a mother was not in the U.S. legally when her child was born and the father is not a U.S. citizen. It also would exclude the children of mothers who were in the U.S. lawfully but temporarily when they gave birth and the father was not a U.S. citizen.
Two federal judges have blocked the implementation of the executive order.
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New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin, who called the executive order a 鈥渇lagrant violation of our Constitution,鈥� is leading a 22-state lawsuit against Trump's efforts.
Minnesota is one of the states that signed on to that suit. All those states have Democratic attorneys general.
鈥淔or more than 125 years, the Supreme Court has clearly interpreted the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution to eliminate any doubt or confusion that anyone born in the U.S. is automatically a U.S. citizen,鈥� Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said in a Jan. 21 statement. 鈥淒uly passed federal laws that the president and his advisors are well aware of clearly spell this out as well.鈥�
In opposing the New Jersey-led lawsuit, Bird called the loophole an incentive for illegal immigration. The 14th Amendment has been misconstrued for a long time to allow people who come to the U.S. to have an 鈥渁nchor baby,鈥� Wrigley told The Forum. That is not sustainable, he said.
鈥淭his is not what makes America strong,鈥� Wrigley said. 鈥淭he idea that if I get up, I go up in a hot air balloon and I float over and I drop and I end up having a child, now that child has all the rights and citizenship of a U.S. citizen, that was never the intention of that amendment.鈥�
The U.S. needs better immigration policy, but denying citizenship to children born in the U.S. is unconstitutional, reckless and ruthless, North Dakota ACLU Executive Director Libby Skarin said in a statement.
鈥淏y signing onto this amicus brief, North Dakota is sending a message of exclusion not only to children in our state directly impacted by the order, but also to many others who will have their citizenship questioned because of their race or who their parents are,鈥� Skarin said.
The Trust Project
