“President Trump may not like the fact that birthright citizenship is a constitutional right, and he may not like that he lost in the Supreme Court, but that is really beside the point,” said Cody Wofsy, deputy director of the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project and lead counsel.
“It’s well past time for these illegal and cruel attacks on children’s citizenship to end.”
The ACLU was joined by other immigrant rights organizations, including the Legal Defense Fund, Asian Law Caucus, and Democracy Defenders Fund, in Tuesday’s court motion.
Aarti Kohl, executive director of the Asian Law Caucus, called Trump’s executive orders “desperate.”
“Americans are struggling to put food on the table and pay their bills, and this administration is just throwing everything at the wall to see what sticks,” Kohl said in a statement.
“The Trump administration already lost once and it will lose again.”
White House Spokeswoman Lauren Bis responded to the lawsuit, saying the executive orders aligned with the Supreme Court ruling.
“The Trump administration has always followed court orders,” Bis told The Epoch Times.
“All actions taken by the president since the recent Supreme Court rulings are consistent with the holdings and analysis set forth by the court.”
The orders allow for the United States to restrict citizenship in some cases, according to the Trump administration.
“After the Supreme Court’s decision in Barbara, the administration continues to guard against efforts to obtain citizenship by malign foreign actors and other categories of aliens whom the Supreme Court recognized are ineligible for birthright citizenship under historically recognized exceptions,” the White House stated on Aug. 6.
The new orders ban babies from becoming automatic U.S. citizens if either parent is an illegal alien designated as a member of a Foreign Terrorist Organization by the United States, or a Specially Designated Global Terrorist.
The parents also cannot be a foreign government employee, an ambassador, employed by a foreign embassy or consulate, or work for an international organization with immunity.
The orders also state the babies can’t obtain citizenship if they are born in the United States to parents engaged in birth tourism transactions to purchase birthright citizenship or other fraudulent activity to gain citizenship.
In Tuesday’s motion, the ACLU has requested the federal court order the Trump administration and federal agencies to be blocked from enforcing the president’s executive orders, except for the orders to restrict citizenship for babies born to diplomatic officers.
Despite Trump’s attempt to ban birth tourism, the Supreme Court decision has created a boom in the industry.
A China Mifubaby Group recently shared a deal on its website, offering births at an “American Postnatal Care Center” for $33,800 to $43,800.
A Texas hospital also recently advertised “childbirth packages in South Texas” on a Spanish-language billboard in Mexico, offering births for $3,950 to $5,525.
On July 21, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott issued an executive order directing state agencies to investigate and take enforcement action against birth tourism schemes involving the state’s healthcare system.