Wisconsin Joins Lawsuit Challenging Trump Executive Order on Birthright Citizenship

MADISON, Wis. (CIVIC MEDIA) – Wisconsin is joining a lawsuit challenging one of President Donald Trump’s many new executive orders. 

Trump signed a flurry of executive orders on his first day in office, many of them focused on immigration. One of them stated that the federal government would no longer consider children born on American soil citizens if their parents were here illegally. 

That stands contrary to the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which was ratified in 1868 after the Civil War. It says all people born or naturalized in the U.S. are citizens. 

“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 14th Amendment reads. 

Nineteen states had filed a lawsuit challenging the order in US District Court in Massachusetts. On Tuesday, Wisconsin became the twentieth to join the suit. 

“Attempting to deny citizenship to kids who were born in the United States of America is as egregious and wrong-headed as it is unconstitutional,” Governor Tony Evers said in a statement. 

Attorney General Josh Kaul said the precedent is clear from the Constitution, federal law, and previous Supreme Court rulings: people born here are citizens. 

America is one of at least 30 nations with birthright citizenship.