Immigration groups and leaders in 22 democratically led states on Friday pushed back sharply against the Trump administration's demands that the Supreme Court lift a temporary nationwide ban blocking the president's order to end the birthright citizenship of undocumented immigrants and foreign residents' children.
Applications for numerous emergency applications came in response to Trump administration emergency applications in March when the government asked the judiciary to lift the block imposed by lower courts.
On his first day in office, President Trump declared that citizenship would be denied to babies who are US citizens or legal permanent residents without at least one parent. These include children born to people who have crossed the country without permission.
A simple matter submitted by immigration advocacy groups, Trump said he tried to end his birthright citizenship through “Executive Fiat.” “But birthright citizenship lies at the heart of our nation's fundamental lesson that all people born in our soil are created equally regardless of parent-child relationships,” Brief said.
Three federal courts in Massachusetts, Maryland and Washington blocked the order while the lawsuit was underway.
The birthright citizenship case is one of many legal battles over Trump administration policies before justice. The court is also asked to consider the government's use of alien enemy laws to immediately expel more than 100 Venezuelan migrants from El Salvador into prisons.
The administration has declared its demand for birthright citizenship as “superficial.” Rather than addressing the content of the policy (legality that suppresses birthright citizenship), government lawyers have asked the court to consider the long-standing debate about the nationwide injunction, a tool used by federal judges. Such an injunction allows federal judges to temporarily freeze national policies rather than limit suspensions to those involved. They have been used during democratic and Republican administrations.
Some legal experts say courts can be overwhelmed if federal judges are unable to temporarily suspend policies across the country while they proceed with their lawsuits. However, critics of their use argue that the widespread sweep of such measures led to more politicization of the courts, as judges issue emergency sentences before the merits of the case are heard.
The curb on birthright citizenship is one of a series of Trump administration policy moves blocked nationwide by judges who issued temporary suspensions while lawsuits challenging legality were considered.
In their brief, the challengers argued that the issue of birthright citizenship demonstrated why the tool was needed.
“There is no “conservative” government requests for emergency relief,” according to a summary submitted on behalf of two immigration rights groups, CASA Inc. and the Asylum-seeker Advocacy Project. If the judge granted the government's demand, the challenger argued that “confusion will continue.”
A brief brief from many democratically-led attorney generals called the Trump administration's demands “notable,” adding that unblocking the nationwide block could “deprive thousands of American-born children in every state or at least 28 states.”
