Appearing on CNN this week, Democratic Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell said Trump’s effort to deny citizenship for the children of undocumented immigrants goes against one of the nation’s core legal tenets.
“He doesn't have the power of your executive order to eviscerate the Constitution, to eradicate the 14th Amendment," she said. "It has been crystal clear for over a century that the 14th Amendment extends birthright citizenship not only to folks who are born here, but folks who are born here regardless of status, regardless of demographic. If they are born on your soil, they are citizens. And of course, we know this comes out of a collective fight post slavery for Black folks to be able to be afforded not only citizenship, but the rights that are attached to that.”
Connecticut Attorney General William Tong, a fellow Democrat, anticipated the planned crackdown.
“Amendment 14, section one: 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," he read. "Period. There's no ambiguity. Black and white, the language is clear.”
Campbell told CNN that precedent supports the Democratic AGs’ argument, and said she was confident it would succeed in any legal venue.
“Right now, we're asking a district court in Massachusetts to end this executive order so that it doesn't actually take effect, and their interpretation of the 14th Amendment is just that, their interpretation, which is absolutely flawed," she said. "The Supreme Court has made it crystal clear for over a century, including executive branches before this President, that even with that provision in the 14th Amendment, it is crystal clear that if you were born in this country, you are indeed a citizen here, regardless of parents' immigration status. This was resolved years and decades ago by the Supreme Court, and now they are attempting to rewrite the Constitution, to rewrite decisions in the Supreme Court, and frankly, if this ended up before the Supreme Court, I'm confident that every justice would not only agree with us because they care deeply about the rule of law in our Constitution, but because they made it crystal clear over and over again for over a century just what the 14th Amendment means.”
The first-term AG says she’s not fazed by a recent Justice Department memo that says the Trump administration will go after state and local officials who reject the administration’s hardline immigration policies.
“We are closely working with all our municipalities here in Massachusetts, including our governor and local elected officials, and making it crystal clear that not only will I as their attorney general fight to protect them, I will use the law to do it," said Campbell. "It has been disheartening to see a slew of executive orders that weaponize the Department of Justice. I would rather the President take these resources, which are limited, and direct them to helping us solve public safety issues, which we do every single day. We are holding folks accountable who perpetuate crimes in the commonwealth regardless of whether they're citizens or undocumented. We've done that with the former U.S. Attorney here in Massachusetts. This is what we are pushing them to do versus trying to create some type of more fear, or, frankly, to suggest that we are in somehow violation of the law, which we are not.”
Trump’s executive order argues that the language of the 14th Amendment does not apply to children born in the country to undocumented immigrants.
Ruling Thursday, a U.S. District Judge temporarily blocked the executive order and called it “blatantly unconstitutional.” Another hearing on the issue is scheduled for February 6th.
