Utah joins legal fight against birthright citizenship
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Utah Attorney General Derek Brown joined 17 other Republican AGs in supporting President Trump's order to end birthright citizenship.
The intrigue: Brown signed an amicus brief Monday against a multistate lawsuit to stop Trump's order — a departure from Gov. Spencer Cox, who argued last week that birthright citizenship is protected by the U.S. Constitution.
Catch up quick: A federal judge temporarily blocked Trump's order last week, calling it "blatantly unconstitutional," agreeing with 22 Democratic AGs who sought an injunction.
The latest: Brown and the other AGs repeat Trump's arguments that children whose parents aren't citizens are "not subject to" American jurisdiction as envisioned in the 14th Amendment.
What they're saying: "Birthright citizenship allows people to exploit American tax dollars and is inconsistent with sensible immigration policy, the views of almost half of all Americans, and the text of the Constitution. This legal issue is not settled under case law, and I support President Trump's efforts to resolve it," Brown told Axios in a statement.
- A spokesperson for Cox did not immediately respond to Axios' request for comment.
The big picture: The amicus brief was also signed by AGs in Iowa, Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota and Wyoming.
Between the lines: Several Republican AGs did not sign onto Monday's brief, including those from Georgia, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Virginia, West Virginia, New Hampshire, Tennessee, Texas, Kentucky and Alaska.
- Yes, but: Texas AG Ken Paxton has spoken out against birthright citizenship.
By the numbers: Almost 1 in 9 Utah residents are foreign-born, per 2022 data from the American Immigration Council.
- About 6% of U.S.-born residents in the state lived with at least one immigrant parent.
Zoom in: Immigrants and their children are not the only ones wary of Trump's order.
- His lawyers and the AGs' brief invoke arguments from an 1884 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that denied citizenship to Native Americans. Some tribal leaders see that as a threat against their members' U.S. citizenship.
- Congress granted citizenship to all Indigenous Americans in 1924, decades after the 1898 Supreme Court decision that codified citizenship for virtually everyone else born here.
What's next: Trump's order was blocked on Jan. 23 for 14 days.
- A hearing for a longer injunction is set for Thursday.
Go deeper: In a separate brief filed Monday, 18 U.S. House Republicans cited 17th century English case law to defend Trump's birthright citizenship order, Axios' Sareen Habeshian reports.