Trump sued by pregnant women and civil rights groups over ‘flagrantly illegal’ birthright citizenship order
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Lawsuits filed across the country warn Trump’s actions will have ‘overwhelming and devastating’ impacts to families. The lawsuit was filed by Boston-based Lawyers for Civil Rights on behalf of Brazilian Worker Center and La Colaborativa, which have “numerous members who are either currently pregnant or planning to grow their families in the future, and whose children will be among the targeted citizens,” according to the complaint.
![[Protesters gather in Chicago’s Federal Plaza on January 20 to rally for immigrant rights as Trump is inaugurated]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/21/15/afdc080d420045a5a3571a150259372b.jpg)
The lawsuit is among at least two federal complaints filed by several immigrants’ advocacy organizations and civil rights groups on behalf of immigrant families and expectant mothers who flooded the groups with complaints and fears over what will happen to their families.
Plaintiffs are demanding the courts to immediately hit pause on Trump’s order, which revives a once-fringe right-wing legal effort to get a conservative-majority Supreme Court to redefine the 14th Amendment. Stripping citizenship from immigrant children threatens them “with a lifetime of exclusion from society and fear of deportation from the only country they have ever known,” according to the complaint. “But that is illegal. The Constitution and Congress — not President Trump — dictate who is entitled to full membership in American society.”.
Under the order’s terms, children can be denied citizenship “when that person’s mother was unlawfully present in the United States and the person’s father was not a United States citizen or lawful permanent resident at the time of said person’s birth,” or “when that person’s mother’s presence in the United States was lawful but temporary, and the person’s father was not a United States citizen or lawful permanent resident at the time of said person’s birth.”.
