Montana Attorney General Joins Fight Against Birthright Citizenship

Immigration is a hot topic in our communities since Donald Trump has returned to office for his second term. Within 24 hours after his inauguration, Trump had thrown his immigrationmobile into gear, including his executive order to end birthright citizenship. In February it was announced that Montana’s Attorney General Austin Knudsen had joined 17 other attorneys general in a coalition to defend President Trump’s executive order. The Iowa-led alliance included Florida, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming to name a few. Here’s what the attorneys general had to say in their February 4th press release:

For the past four years, disastrous immigration policies transformed every State into a border state by flooding them with illegal aliens, including criminals convicted of crimes in their home country, violent international gang members, and suspected ISIS terrorists. Removing the incentive for illegal aliens to give birth in America will reduce illegal immigration. In turn, this will reduce States’ costs from illegal immigration and births by illegal aliens. Because the Executive Order is constitutional and vital, the Amici States urge the Court to deny a preliminary injunction.

Illegal immigration imposes significant costs on the States and their people. And creating incentives for illegal immigration puts lives at risk. Allowing virtually anyone born on American soil to claim American citizenship creates incentives for illegal immigration and exacerbates States’ costs.

You can read the press release here.

While ending birthright citizenship sounds easy in theory, it is protected by the 14th Amendment. The Constitution’s 14th Amendment 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.” Traditionally, this has been interpreted to mean that if you're born within the US’ borders, you’re a US citizen. Trump’s executive order looks to block citizenship for newborns who don’t have at least one (lawful) permanent resident or US citizen parent. 

Currently, the executive order has been sitting in the Supreme Court's inbox since March 14th, when the Trump administration appealed to SCOTUS following the lower court blockings of the order. SCOTUS can temporarily authorize the order while it goes through the court system, or they can accept the case in full and decide the constitutionality of the EO for themselves.