Delaware joins 17 other states in challenging President Donald Trump’s executive order that seeks to end birthright citizenship provided under the 14th Amendment.
“We are a nation of immigrants, and a nation of laws; this executive order flies in the face of both,” said Attorney General Jennings in a statement. “The president is subordinate to the Constitution, not the other way around, and here the Constitution is unambiguous. We are taking action to defend not only American children — who deserve the same rights and opportunities as me, the president and everyone else — but the institutions that restored this country after the Civil War.”
The executive order claims the Fourteenth Amendment “has never been interpreted to extend citizenship universally to everyone born within the United States.”
The order would make it so that citizenship would not automatically extend to someone born in the U.S. if both parents are undocumented, or if the parents’ presence is “lawful but temporary.”
If the executive order stands, it would deny citizenship to as many as 700 babies born each year in Delaware, according to the state’s Department of Justice.
Delaware’s DOJ also claims this move would harm the state and its residents. It argues Delaware would lose significant federal funding for programs like Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program and foster care and adoption assistance programs.
Jurisdictions joining Delaware in the challenge include New Jersey, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Vermont, Wisconsin, Washington, D.C., and the City of San Francisco.
They are seeking immediate relief to prevent the President’s Order from taking effect through both a Temporary Restraining Order and a Preliminary Injunction.
