DENVER — Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser joined 21 other attorneys general in a lawsuit attempting to block President Donald Trump's executive order banning birthright citizenship.
On his first day back in the Oval Office, Trump signed an executive order stating the "privilege of United States citizenship does not automatically extend to persons born in the United States:
- (1) when that person’s mother was unlawfully present in the United States and the father was not a United States citizen or lawful permanent resident at the time of said person’s birth, or
- (2) when that person’s mother’s presence in the United States at the time of said person’s birth was lawful but temporary (such as, but not limited to, visiting the United States under the auspices of the Visa Waiver Program or visiting on a student, work, or tourist visa) and the father was not a United States citizen or lawful permanent resident at the time of said person’s birth."
Ian Farrell, an assistant professor at the University of Denver's Sturm College of Law, called the order two-fold.
"The executive order says that the children in those situations will no longer be treated as U.S. citizens," Farrell said. "And, for instance, directs the appropriate agencies to not provide passports and so on and so forth."
The executive order instructs federal agencies to stop issuing citizenship documents to US-born children of undocumented mothers, or those with temporary status, if the father isn't a U.S. citizen or permanent resident, beginning next month.
"There's a date at which the executive order comes into force, and importantly, it is not retroactive. So anyone who already has citizenship keeps that citizenship, even if they would not be eligible for citizenship after the order comes into effect," Farrell said.
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22 states, including CO, sue to stop Trump order blocking birthright citizenship
Attorney General Weiser maintains the date won't matter because he and the attorneys general of 21 other states believe the order encroaches on the 14th Amendment.
"The 14th Amendment makes clear that if you're born here, you're a citizen of the United States," Weiser told Denver7.
"In an executive order, President Trump says he's going to overturn this constitutional guarantee. That's not how our system works," Weiser continued. "He can't do that, and for a lot of Coloradans who are citizens because of this provision, this is a scary step."
Farrell told Denver7 he believes the order will face several legal hurdles before anything else happens.
"I think the important thing to keep in mind is that the vast majority of scholars, judges and so forth believe that this is inconsistent with the birthright citizenship clause of the 14th Amendment, and so, it would be a radical departure from that understanding if the court were to say that this is constitutional," he said.
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