President Trump often trumpets American exceptionalism, but an executive order scheduled to take effect this week seeks to uproot a longstanding policy not found in much of the developed world: granting citizenship to the children of illegal immigrants born on U.S. soil. Under his order, the babies would, instead, inherit the immigration status of their parents.
Attorneys general from 22 states have already sued in two federal district courts and won preliminary rulings to block what they call the president’s “unquestionably unconstitutional” action. A lawsuit filed by four states in the Western District of Washington claims his action “is contrary to the plain terms of the Fourteenth Amendment’s Citizenship Clause.”
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