One of the many executive orders President Donald Trump issued on his first week back in the Oval Office is an attempt to end birthright citizenship, a right that is enshrined in the Constitution (the 14th Amendment) making anyone born within the U.S. or its territories automatically a citizen.
Attorney Cody Wofsy, deputy director of the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project — one of many organizations suing the Trump administration over the executive order, said: “Denying citizenship to babies born on U.S. soil is illegal, profoundly cruel, and contrary to our values as a country.”
On Thursday, U.S. District Judge John Coughenour temporarily blocked the order and called it “blatantly unconstitutional.”
Neal Katyal, former Solicitor General of the United States and Supreme Court lawyer, responded to the executive order: “This is quite incredible. The US Justice Dept, under Trump, is defending its birthright citizenship Order by arguing that immigrant children covered by the Order cannot be citizens because… the children of Native Americans aren’t US citizens.”
This is quite incredible. The US Justice Dept, under Trump, is defending its birthright citizenship Order by arguing that immigrant children covered by the Order cannot be citizens because… the children of Native Americans aren’t US citizens. pic.twitter.com/dhVtIxaqpu
— Neal Katyal (@neal_katyal) January 24, 2025
Katyal shared a screenshot of the Order which cites the Supreme Court’s decision Elk v. Wilkins.
In the 1884 case, the Court held that since members of Indian tribes owe “immediate allegiance” to their tribes, they are not “subject to the jurisdiction” of the United States and are not constitutionally entitled to citizenship.
Trump’s order reads: “The United States’ connection with the children of illegal aliens…is weaker that its connection with members of Indian tribes. If the latter link is insufficient for birthright citizenship, the former certainly is.”
Note: The Indian Citizenship Act of 1924, which granted U.S. citizenship to all Native Americans born within the United States, was signed into law by President Calvin Coolidge.
It was enacted partially in recognition of the estimated 12,000 Native Americans who served in the US Armed Forces during World War I and the tens of thousands of Native Americans who “supported the war at home by working in war industries, purchasing war bonds, and assisting in war relief efforts.”