"Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship" | |
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Type | Executive order |
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Signed by | Donald Trump on January 20, 2025 |
An executive order titled Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship was signed by Donald Trump, the 47th president of the United States, on January 20, 2025. [1] The executive order aims to challenge the previously prevailing interpretation of the Citizenship Clause of the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution, in order to end birthright citizenship in the United States for children of unauthorized immigrants as well as immigrants legally but temporarily present in the U.S., such as those on student, work, or tourist visas.
Trump's executive order redefines the Fourteenth Amendment's clause "and subject to the jurisdiction thereof." [2]
The executive order states two different situations where a person is no longer a U.S. citizen at birth. [3]
The executive order states that these provisions are only effective for people born 30 days or more after the date of the order, so it would only apply to children born beginning February 19, 2025. [3]
The executive order was immediately challenged in court by the American Civil Liberties Union and the Asian Law Caucus in the case New Hampshire Indonesian Community Support v. Donald J. Trump. [4] On January 21, a lawsuit challenging the order was filed in the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts by eighteen state attorneys general. [5] A second lawsuit, filed by another four states, was filed in the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington. [5] A third lawsuit was filed in a Maryland federal court by immigrant and asylum-seeker rights groups on behalf of five pregnant women. [6] [7]
On January 23, Judge John C. Coughenour of the Western District of Washington issued a temporary block on the order, calling it "blatantly unconstitutional." [8] [9]
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