Mounting birthright citizenship battle in Mass. and beyond

Why it matters: The order is an attempt to redefine who qualifies for U.S. citizenship by targeting children born to undocumented parents or those on temporary visas.

• Over 30,000 Massachusetts children with U.S. citizenship had at least one undocumented parent as of 2022, according to the American Immigration Council.

Zoom in: Campbell is the co-lead on the 18-state lawsuit, while local group Lawyers for Civil Rights filed a separate challenge Tuesday.

• The lawsuit, filed in Massachusetts federal court, called Trump's move a "flagrantly unlawful attempt to strip hundreds of thousands [of] American-born children of their citizenship."
• Gov. Maura Healey is backing Campbell, calling birthright citizenship "something that's in the Constitution."

What's next: Multiple court challenges will proceed simultaneously as states and advocacy groups seek to block the order's implementation.

The bottom line: The legal battle centers on the 14th Amendment's details about citizenship. Civil rights groups argue Trump would create a new unconstitutional subclass of U.S.-born noncitizens.