NEW YORK, United States (CMC) – New York Attorney General Letitia James has welcomed a court order upholding birthright citizenship for Caribbean and other immigrants.
A United States District Court judge in the District of Massachusetts has ruled that birthright citizenship will remain protected nationwide.
“As we have repeatedly said, birthright citizenship is the law of the land,” James told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC), adding that the Constitution “is more than just mere words on parchment; it reflects our values”.
“All children born on these shores are citizens bound to be respected under the law,” she said.
James and 18 other attorneys general filed a lawsuit on January 21, challenging US President Donald Trump’s “unconstitutional executive order attempting to end birthright citizenship.”
Last Friday, Judge Leo Sorokin reaffirmed his preliminary injunction barring the president’s order from taking effect nationwide. On February 13, the court granted the coalition’s motion for a preliminary injunction, which the US Court of Appeals later upheld for the First Circuit.
But in early July, the US Supreme Court, the highest court in America, partially stayed the preliminary injunction, sending the issue back to the lower courts to narrow their order.
However, on July 10, a federal district court ruling blocked Trump’s executive order terminating birthright citizenship from becoming effective anywhere in the country. Judge Joseph LaPlante of the New Hampshire federal district court issued a preliminary injunction prohibiting the president’s order and certifying a class action lawsuit that includes all affected children.
In his order, the judge issued a seven-day pause to permit an appeal.
New York State Assemblywoman Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn, the daughter of Haitian immigrants, told CMC that she “strongly condemns this dangerous and draconian attempt to strip away birthright citizenship, a fundamental right enshrined in the 14th Amendment and a cornerstone of our American democracy.
“It is outrageous that we are once again forced to defend the basic humanity and constitutional protections of immigrant children,” added the chair of the Brooklyn Democratic Party, who represents the 42nd Assembly District in Brooklyn, New York.
“Let me be clear: President Trump’s executive order is not just unconstitutional, it is un-American. This order targets the very families who have built this nation and keep shaping it, including Brooklyn’s diverse immigrant population,” said Bichotte Hermelyn.
The San Diego, California-based Haitian Bridge Alliance (HBA) “forcefully” condemned the Supreme Court’s decision to partially stay preliminary injunctions on Trump’s birthright citizenship executive order.
HBA’s executive director, Guerline Jozef, told CMC that the Supreme Court’s decision that limits nationwide injunctions “clears a dangerous path for the Trump administration’s attacks on birthright citizenship to proceed in large parts of the country.
The Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) – chaired by Caribbean-American Congresswoman Yvette D. Clarke, the daughter of Jamaican immigrants, who represents the 9th Congressional District in New York – also condemned the Supreme Court’s ruling.
“By limiting the federal judiciary’s ability to issue nationwide injunctions against the Trump administration’s extremist and authoritarian policies, the conservative supermajority on the Supreme Court is once again bending the law to serve President Trump instead of defending the Constitution and the American people,” said CBC in a statement.