<p>Monica Mendoza-Cawthon’s parents were undocumented Mexican farmworkers who labored in California and Eastern Washington. Born in Washington, the 31-year-old Kent woman became an American citizen as soon as she drew breath due to the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, adopted in 1868.</p>
<p>On Monday, brand-new President Donald Trump signed an executive order to abolish birthright citizenship. On Tuesday, brand-new Washington Attorney General Nick Brown filed a federal lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Seattle, along with Illinois, Oregon and Arizona, to contest Trump’s order as unconstitutional. The four join 18 other states who filed a similar lawsuit in Boston.</p>
<p>“I’m angry. I’m still in a mixed-citizen family,” said Mendoza-Cawthon, a recent Seattle University law school graduate studying for her bar exam. “I’m scared for the people in my community. I’m scared for the people in my family.” Her parents obtained the appropriate work permit documentation in the 1980s. Her father recently became a U.S. citizen. Her mother is back in Mexico. </p>
<p>“This clearly targets people of color. The president wants the United States to be seen as a certain color,” she added.</p>
<p>A result of the Civil War abolishing slavery, the 14th Amendment begins: “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.” </p>
<p><a href=”https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/protecting-the-meaning-and-value-of-american-citizenship/”>Trump’s order</a> refuses to recognize the citizenship of children born in the U.S. who do not have least one birth parent who is a U.S. citizen or a lawful permanent resident. The order states that the new prohibition “shall apply only to persons who are born within the United States after 30 days from the date of” signing.</p>
<p>At a Tuesday press conference, Brown declared Trump’s order “unconstitutional, un-American and cruel. … Washington state will not abide by such a harmful and unjust action.”</p>
<p>“Birthright citizenship has been a right in this country for over 150 years,” Brown said. “What is not in the Constitution is that the President has the authority to say who has been granted citizenship.”</p>
<p>Cascade PBS tried to reach the White House press office by email on Tuesday, but the media affairs office contact functions were not set up.</p>
<p>“Radical Leftists can either choose to swim against the tide and reject the overwhelming will of the people, or they can get on board and work with President Trump,” White House deputy press secretary Harrison Fields told the Associated Press.</p>
<p>The U.S. Supreme Court upheld birthright citizenship in 1898, when it sided 6-2 with <a href=”https://constitutioncenter.org/the-constitution/supreme-court-case-library/united-states-v-wong-kim-ark-1898″>Wong Kim Ark, who was born in San Francisco to Chinese-national parents</a>, after he was initially denied reentry to the United States.</p>
<p>On Wednesday, Washington will seek an emergency court order preventing any federal agency from relying on Trump’s order to deny the privileges of citizenship — including passports, Social Security numbers, health care benefits and more — to babies born in the four states included in Washington’s lawsuit.</p>
<p><a href=”https://www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/2025/01/20/trump-immigration-executive-orders/”>The Washington Post said</a> it is unclear how many U.S.-born children of undocumented immigrants are in the United States or are born each year. About 4.4 million U.S.-born children under 18 were living with an undocumented parent in 2022, according to the Pew Research Center. At least 1.4 million adults have parents who are undocumented, the Post said.</p>
<p>The Migration Policy Institute, which advocates for immigration and integration policies, estimates that Washington <a href=”https://www.migrationpolicy.org/data/unauthorized-immigrant-population/state/WA”>had about 250,000 undocumented immigrants</a> as of 2019. About 38% of families have at least one U.S. citizen child under the age of 18. The group did not have information about adult U.S. citizen children of undocumented immigrants.</p>
<p>The Attorney General’s office spent several months analyzing Trump’s campaign promises and Project 2025, a 900-page master plan by Trump allies on what he should do as president. One of the leaders of Project 2025 is Trump’s choice to be the director of the federal Office of Management and Budget.</p>
<p>“We started preparing for this scenario more than a year ago,” said former attorney general and new Gov. Bob Ferguson in a press release.</p>
<p>Brown was noncommittal Tuesday on whether Washington might file other lawsuits pertaining to Trump’s executive orders. He said Washington would not legally contest orders that abide by the law, and said his office would deal with such possibilities on a case-by-case basis to determine if any orders are illegal.</p>
<p><strong>Topics:</strong> <a href=”https://www.cascadepbs.org/donald-trump” hreflang=”en”>Donald Trump</a>, <a href=”https://www.cascadepbs.org/immigration” hreflang=”en”>Immigration</a>, <a href=”https://www.cascadepbs.org/trump” hreflang=”en”>trump</a></p>
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