Delaware joins states to defend birthright citizenship
Just like clockwork, hours after President Donald Trump signed an executive order to end birthright citizenship, Delaware joined more than a dozen states Jan. 21 to challenge it.
“We are a nation of immigrants, and a nation of laws; this executive order flies in the face of both,” said Attorney General Jennings in a press release. “The president is subordinate to the Constitution, not the other way around, and here the Constitution is unambiguous. We are taking action to defend not only American children – who deserve the same rights and opportunities as me, the president and everyone else – but the institutions that restored this country after the Civil War.”
Under the 14th Amendment, Section 1 states, “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside.”
The amendment, adopted in 1868, was passed to assure citizenship for descendants of slaves. The U.S. Supreme Court has twice upheld birthright citizenship, regardless of the immigration status of the baby’s parents, Jennings said.
The executive order would deny citizenship rights to about 700 babies born each year in Delaware, Jennings said, and Delaware would stand to lose federal funding for Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program, foster care and adoption assistance programs.
“All of which rely at least in part on the immigration status of the residents being served,” Jennings said. “States will also be required – on no notice and at its considerable expense – to immediately begin modifying their operation and administration of benefits programs to account for this change, which will require significant burdens for multiple agencies that operate programs for the benefit of the states’ residents.”
In its challenge, Delaware and other states not only say the executive order is inconsistent with the Constitution, but with the Immigration and Nationality Act, and two U.S. Supreme Court decisions.
Delaware joins in the filing with New Jersey, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Vermont, Wisconsin, Washington, D.C., and the City of San Francisco.
