A group of Democratic state attorneys general initiated a federal lawsuit on Tuesday in an effort to prevent President Trump’s executive order aimed at ending birthright citizenship.

Soon after assuming office on Monday, President Trump used his executive authority to launch a crackdown on immigration, which included a directive to halt the issuance of passports, citizenship certificates, and other official documents for many children born in the U.S. to mothers who are undocumented or to parents who are not legal permanent residents.

The lawsuit, filed in a Massachusetts federal court by 18 states, argues that Mr. Trump’s actions violate the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which has traditionally been interpreted to grant citizenship to anyone born on U.S. soil. Additionally, the cities of San Francisco and Washington, D.C., have joined the legal challenge. The 14th Amendment explicitly states: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.”

“The great promise of our nation is that everyone born here is a citizen of the United States, able to achieve the American dream,” said New York Attorney General Letitia James in a statement to CBS News. “This fundamental right to birthright citizenship, rooted in the 14th Amendment and born from the ashes of slavery, is a cornerstone of our nation’s commitment to justice.”

The plaintiffs are requesting an immediate court order to block the executive order from being enforced and, in the long term, to have it declared invalid. The states involved in the suit include: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Wisconsin.

“The President’s executive order attempting to rescind birthright citizenship is blatantly unconstitutional and quite frankly, un-American,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta remarked in a statement. “We are asking a court to immediately block this order from taking effect and ensure that the rights of American-born children impacted by this order remain in effect while litigation proceeds. The President has overstepped his authority by a mile with this order, and we will hold him accountable.”

The President’s directive called for enforcement of the order within 30 days. It was met with opposition shortly after its release when the American Civil Liberties Union and several other advocacy organizations filed a separate lawsuit aimed at blocking it.

On the same day, four additional states—Illinois, Arizona, Washington, and Oregon—filed their own lawsuit in Washington state, challenging the executive order.

“We need to discuss bipartisan commonsense immigration reforms, but denying birthright citizenship, which dates back centuries and has been upheld twice by the U.S. Supreme Court, is not the solution,” Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul said in a statement.

{Matzav.com}