California Attorney General Rob Bonta joined more than a dozen other state attorneys general is challenging the constitutionality of an executive order redefining birthright citizenship, issued by President Donald Trump on the first day of his second term. 

The lawsuit was filed Jan. 21 in a U.S. District Court in Massachusetts.

Among many executive orders signed by the president Jan. 20, one titled “Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship” defines citizenship as a “priceless and profound gift” and rescinds existing regulations that allow any person born in the nation, regardless of their mother’s status, to be recognized as a U.S. citizen. 

“We’re the only country in the world that does this with birthright ... and it’s just absolutely ridiculous,” Trump said while signing the presidential action in the White House’s Oval Office on Jan. 20. 

The order—set to take effect on Feb. 19—directs all agencies not to issue citizenship documents for individuals whose mothers were not lawfully present in the country and whose fathers were not citizens or lawful permanent residents, or for an individual whose father is in a similar situation and whose mother’s presence is only lawful when temporary. 

The Social Security Administration and the Department of State will no longer issue Social Security cards and passports, respectively, to individuals who do not qualify for citizenship based on the new rules. 

California Gov. Gavin Newsom issued a brief, three-word response after Trump announced his action. 

“This is unconstitutional,” Newsom said in a statement. 

Those challenging the action in court allege that the law violates the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and pointed to an 1898 ruling from the Supreme Court, in U.S. vs. Wong Kim Ark, as evidence that courts should block the law before it takes effect.

In that case, the court ruled that the Citizenship Clause in the Constitution conferred citizenship to those born in the country whose parents are “resident aliens.”

California Attorney General Rob Bonta speaks in Los Angeles on April 15, 2024. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)

“The president’s executive order attempting to rescind birthright citizenship is blatantly unconstitutional and quite frankly, un-American,” Bonta said in a statement. “California condemns the president’s attempts to erase history and ignore 125 years of Supreme Court precedent. The president has overstepped his authority by a mile with this order, and we will hold him accountable.”  

Both sides are pointing to the 14th Amendment as proof that their arguments are valid, with a difference of opinions on how best to interpret the clause, “[a]ll 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.”  

Bonta and other attorneys general say the clause includes all persons born in the country, while Trump and his supporters point to the “subject to the jurisdiction thereof” portion of the law to suggest the newly proposed definition is legally sound. 

If enacted, tens of thousands of children born in the country—including an estimated 24,500 in California—to illegal immigrants could “be forced to live under the threat of deportation” and lose access to benefit programs, according to a statement from Bonta’s office. 

The complaint also alleges that the law would cause “irreparable harm” to California and other states by risking a loss of federal funding for Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Programs, among others, as the programs have conditions related to citizenship and immigration status. 

In addition to California, attorneys general from Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Vermont, and Wisconsin, along with the cities of San Francisco and Washington, D.C., joined together to request the preliminary injunction. 

Larry Ellison, executive charmain of Oracle, listens to President Donald Trump speak in the Roosevelt Room at the White House on Jan. 21. (Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images)

When asked by reporters while signing the order if he expected legal challenges, the president shrugged off the notion and said he’s confident the law will stand. 

“We think we have very good ground,” Trump said. “People have wanted to do this for decades.”