California sues Trump over executive order to end birthright citizenship
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California Attorney General Rob Bonta speaks at a news conference in 2021. Photo: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
California Attorney General Rob Bonta on Tuesday filed a lawsuit in federal court challenging President Trump's executive order attempting to end birthright citizenship for U.S.-born children of undocumented immigrants.
The big picture: California joins 17 other Democratic states, including New Jersey, Colorado and Massachusetts, and the cities of San Francisco and Washington D.C., in suing the Trump administration to block the executive order.
- The suit follows a similar challenge from a coalition of civil rights groups, including the ACLU, which filed a complaint on Monday.
What they're saying: "I have one message for President Trump: I'll see you in court," Bonta said during a press conference in San Francisco on Tuesday. "Immigrants are and always will be welcome in California. I'm here to make sure."
State of play: If allowed to stand, the order would strip thousands of U.S.-born children of vital rights and federal benefits.
- That includes losing eligibility for basic health care, federal food and housing assistance, financial aid and the ability to receive a Social Security number and work lawfully. They would also lose their right to vote, serve on juries and run for some public offices.
Between the lines: The order would create "a permanent, multi-generational underclass of those who will have been born in our country but will never have lived anywhere else and be effectively stateless," according to San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu.
- States could also lose federal funding for Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program.
By the numbers: About 24,500 babies born annually in California alone could be affected.
Reality check: The executive order conflicts with decades of Supreme Court precedent and the 14th Amendment.
Context: San Francisco has held a unique role in helping establish the birthright citizenship clause thanks to native Wong Kim Ark, a Chinese-American man who was denied reentry into the U.S. in 1895 after visiting family in China.
- He successfully fought the case all the way to the Supreme Court, which ruled that any person born in the U.S. has the constitutional right to citizenship.
Catch up quick: It's not the first time California has taken legal action against Trump. The state sued his administration 123 times during his first term and spent about $10 million a year doing so.
The bottom line: The lawsuit marks the beginning of what's likely to be a long legal fight between Democrats and Trump over an agenda aiming to overhaul U.S. immigration policy and other efforts to dramatically reshape the country.
Read more: Tracking Trump's executive orders: What he's signed so far