Santa Clara County files suit over Trump executive order on birthright citizenship
Officials in Santa Clara County on Thursday said they have filed a federal lawsuit over President Trump's executive order that seeks to end birthright citizenship.
The lawsuit, which names Mr. Trump and other top federal officials, argues that the order violates the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
"Executive orders that conflict with the Constitution have no legal standing and only create unnecessary confusion and hardship for immigrant families, and all Americans," said Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors President Otto Lee said in a statement.
Trump's order, signed hours after he was inaugurated on Jan. 20, seeks to deny birthright citizenship to the children of immigrants who are in the U.S. illegally or on temporary visas.
The U.S. government has long interpreted the Constitution to mean that those born on American soil are citizens at birth, regardless of their parent's immigration status.
Ratified in 1868, the 14th Amendment to the Constitution says: "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."
California played a role in setting the precedent in the late 19th century. Wong Kim Ark, a Chinese-American man born in San Francisco, was denied entry back into the U.S. under the Chinese Exclusion Act.
A landmark decision by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1898 affirmed his right to citizenship under the Citizenship Clause of the 14th Amendment.
"No president has the power to enact, amend, or repeal statutes, much less the Constitution itself," County Counsel Tony LoPresti said. "This order illegally instructs federal agencies and officials to refuse to follow and execute a wide range of laws that rest on the bedrock constitutional foundation of birthright citizenship."
Officials said if the order were implemented, thousands of county residents would be impacted, including refugees and asylees awaiting for green cards, along with professionals working in the county under H-1B visas, students residing in the county on visas and those who are in the U.S. illegally.
According to U.S. Census data, more than 40% of county residents were born outside the United States, an estimated 773,000 people. More than 60% of children in the county have at least one foreign-born parent, the highest percentage in the California and one of the highest percentages of any county in the U.S.
The executive order has already been challenged in court. A federal judge in Seattle has placed a 14-day restraining order on Jan. 23.
Meanwhile, California Attorney General Rob Bonta joined a lawsuit that includes attorneys general in 17 other states and San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu.