Since the first day of his second term in office, President Trump has taken aim at birthright citizenship. On Jan. 20, 2025, he signed an executive order seeking to strip certain babies born in the United States of their U.S. citizenship. LDF, alongside ACLU and other partners, immediately sued to block the unconstitutional action. Federal courts have since repeatedly blocked the administration from implementing the executive order, finding it violates the Constitution, over a century of Supreme Court precedent, and a longstanding federal statute.
LDF also joined the ACLU and other partners to file the class action lawsuit Trump v. Barbara on behalf of the enormous number of individuals whose citizenship hangs in the balance because of the President’s birthright citizenship executive order, and now the case will be heard in the Supreme Court on April 1.
Ending birthright citizenship would upend the law and the lives of countless families by creating a permanent subclass of people born in the United States who are denied their rights as American citizens. However, our coalition is primed to argue against this unprecedented and unlawful attack on all of our rights.
Birthright citizenship stems from the principle of jus soli, that all children born in the United States are U.S. citizens. Birthright citizenship has remained a bedrock of our country, and was enshrined in our constitution in 1868 when the states ratified the Fourteenth Amendment. The Fourteenth Amendment was ratified to repudiate the infamous Dred Scott decision that denied Black people the protections of U.S. citizenship. In 1898, the U.S. Supreme Court confirmed that children born in the U.S. to immigrant parents were entitled to U.S. citizenship in the case United States v. Wong Kim Ark.
The executive order attempts to get rid of birthright citizenship for U.S.-born children of certain immigrants, born after February 19, 2025. Specifically, it says the federal government will no longer consider U.S.-born children to be citizens if neither parent has citizenship or permanent immigration status.
As a result of nationwide preliminary injunctions, the order is not currently in effect. However, as written, it applies to any child born in the United States after Feb. 19 whose parents do not have citizenship or permanent immigration status. This includes, but is not limited to, parents with the following immigration statuses:
Children born in the U.S. to at least one parent who is a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident would acquire citizenship under the executive order, regardless of the other parent’s citizenship status.
The executive order states that it is to take effect after February 19, 2025. However, multiple lawsuits have been filed around the country. Because of the legal challenges, the executive order is currently blocked from taking effect.
Since President Trump issued the order, federal judges in multiple district courts have issued preliminary injunctions, which effectively stop the policy from being implemented until these legal cases come to a final decision. For example, on Feb. 10, 2025, a federal judge in New Hampshire issued a preliminary injunction in a lawsuit filed by the Legal Defense Fund, the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of New Hampshire, the ACLU of Maine, the ACLU of Massachusetts, the Asian Law Caucus, and the State Democracy Defenders Fund on behalf of New Hampshire Indonesian Community Support, League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), and Make the Road New York.
Federal judges in Washington, Maryland and Massachusetts have also issued preliminary injunctions, and challenges to these preliminary injunctions have been denied. Additional lawsuits challenging the executive order have been filed in California, New York and the District of Columbia.
For generations of families, birthright citizenship has represented the promise that their children can achieve their full potential as Americans and pursue their dreams. President Trump’s executive order will stigmatize and send a message of exclusion to many others who will have their citizenship questioned because of their race or who their parents are. Excluding people born here will create a permanent underclass of people who have never been to another country and may be rendered stateless.
Additionally, a child stripped of U.S. citizenship under this executive order would be denied their rights as a U.S. citizen. The child will not be able to obtain a Social Security card or U.S. passport. The child’s access to critical federal programs like CHIP, SNAP and Medicaid will be jeopardized. Unless they find another way to get immigration status as they grow up, they will be barred from voting, jury service and holding certain jobs.
If the order goes into effect, whether impacted children could get citizenship from their parents’ home country would depend on different factors, including, but not limited to, their parents’ immigration status, home country, and whether the U.S. has diplomatic relations with their parents’ home country. Without birthright citizenship, some children could be left stateless, without any home country.
Although Congress may try to change federal laws protecting birthright citizenship, birthright citizenship is also enshrined in the Fourteenth Amendment. Any attempt to take it away would require changing or amending the U.S. Constitution. Changing the U.S. Constitution requires two thirds of both the House and the Senate. Additionally, 3/4 of the nation’s state legislatures would need to ratify any change.
If you believe that you will be directly impacted by the birthright citizenship executive order, and you are interested in learning more about how to get involved in the efforts to challenge this order, you can contact the Legal Defense Fund.
This page was authored in partnership with the Asian Law Caucus.
