Pregnant Women Sue Trump Over Executive Order Ending Birthright Citizenship

A group of pregnant women has joined forces nationwide to sue President Donald Trump and his administration for issuing an executive order that seeks to end birthright citizenship in the United States. Lawyers from Maryland, Massachusetts, and Washington state have filed lawsuits on behalf of expecting parents, arguing that Trump’s order is unconstitutional and a violation of the Fourteenth Amendment.

The lawsuits come after Trump announced the executive order last week, which has drawn sharp criticism from federal judges and legal experts. The order has already been labeled “blatantly unconstitutional,” sparking legal challenges from attorneys general in 18 states as well as the cities of San Francisco and Washington, D.C.

A joint lawsuit filed on January 21 in federal court states, “The principle of birthright citizenship has been enshrined in the Constitution for more than 150 years. The Citizenship Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment unambiguously grants citizenship to ‘[a]ll persons born’ in and ‘subject to the jurisdiction’ of the United States.”

The lawsuit, filed in Massachusetts, highlights how the Immigration and Nationality Act codifies the Fourteenth Amendment’s principle of birthright citizenship. It also underscores that the executive branch has historically recognized any attempt to deny citizenship based on parental status as unconstitutional.

“President Trump now seeks to abrogate this well-established and longstanding constitutional principle by executive fiat,” the suit alleges.

In Maryland, five pregnant women and two immigrant advocacy groups have filed a separate lawsuit condemning Trump’s executive order. Their complaint calls it a “flagrant violation of the Fourteenth Amendment” and states that the principle of birthright citizenship is fundamental to the nation’s democracy.

“The President has no unilateral authority to override rights recognized in the Constitution or federal statutes,” their filing asserts.

Another lawsuit, filed on January 24 in Washington state by three pregnant women in collaboration with the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project, argues that Trump’s executive order would render children born in the U.S. to noncitizen parents “stateless.” The suit states, “Citizenship is the fundamental marker of belonging in this country. Without it, babies born here will have no legal immigration status.”

In addition to Trump, several federal agencies and officials, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Attorney General James McHenry, the Department of Homeland Security, and others, have been named in the lawsuits.

Trump’s executive order claims that the Fourteenth Amendment excludes children of undocumented parents, arguing they are not “subject to the jurisdiction” of the United States. Legal experts have widely rejected this interpretation, asserting that it contradicts longstanding constitutional principles.

Requests for comment from the Trump administration were not immediately returned.