abc News – President Donald Trump’s bid to cut off birthright citizenship is a “flagrantly unlawful attempt to strip hundreds of thousands American-born children of their citizenship based on their parentage,” attorneys for 18 states, the city of San Francisco and the District of Columbia said Tuesday in a lawsuit challenging the president’s executive order signed just hours after he was sworn in Monday.
The lawsuit, filed by 18 Democratic attorneys general, accuses Trump of seeking to eliminate a “well-established and longstanding Constitutional principle” by executive fiat.
“The President has no authority to rewrite or nullify a constitutional amendment or duly enacted statute. Nor is he empowered by any other source of law to limit who receives United States citizenship at birth,” the lawsuit said.
Four additional states filed a similar suit later in the day, asking a federal court to keep the executive order from being implemented or enforced, bringing the total number of states to 22.
On Tuesday evening, U.S. District Judge John Coughenour scheduled a 10 a.m. hearing on Thursday to consider a request made by four states to issue a temporary restraining order against Trump’s executive order.
Judge Coughenour – who was nominated to the bench by former President Ronald Reagan – will likely be the first judge to weigh in on Trump’s executive order.
Trump’s order directed federal agencies — starting next month — to stop issuing citizenship documents to U.S.-born children of undocumented mothers or mothers in the country on temporary visas, if the father is not a U.S. citizen or permanent resident.
According to the lawsuit filed by the 18 states, about 150,000 children born each year to two parents who are noncitizens and lack legal status could lose access to basic health care, foster care, and early interventions for infants, toddlers, and students with disabilities.
“They will all be deportable, and many will be stateless,” the lawsuit said.
The states warned the executive order would also cause them to lose federal funding for programs that render services to children regardless of their immigration status.
While Trump’s order purports to unilaterally end birthright citizenship, only the U.S. Supreme Court can determine how the 14th Amendment applies.
“President Trump’s attempt to unilaterally end birthright citizenship is a flagrant violation of our Constitution,” said New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin at a press conference Tuesday. “For more than 150 years, our country has followed the same basic rule: babies who are born in this country are American citizens.”
“He’s entitled to enact a policy that he sees fit for the country,” but “this is an extreme and unprecedented act,” Platkin said. “This isn’t just an attack on the law. It’s an attack on the very fabric of this nation.”
“Presidents in this country have broad power. But they are not kings,” said Platklin.
“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. “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.”
“We are ready to take on the challenges of a second Trump administration to ensure that in California our progress will continue, and that our progress will prevail,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta said.
The states are seeking to invalidate Trump’s executive order and stop any actions taken to implement it. Their lawsuit requests a preliminary injunction to immediately prevent the order from taking effect.
Nonprofit groups in Massachusetts and New Hampshire also filed federal lawsuits challenging the executive order on Monday.
ABC News’ Alex Stone contributed to this report.
