The Trump administration is facing a new nationwide class-action lawsuit challenging an executive order that seeks to deny birthright citizenship to some children born in the United States, including those born through certain commercial surrogacy arrangements and to some foreign government and international organization employees. The lawsuit, filed Monday, September 28, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, argues that the order violates the Fourteenth Amendment and federal law by creating new exceptions to the longstanding principle that nearly everyone born on U.S. soil is an American citizen.
The complaint was brought by three families who said they are affected by Trump's August 6 executive order, which directs federal agencies not to recognize the citizenship of certain U.S.-born people when neither parent is an American citizen. The plaintiffs are seeking to represent a nationwide class and have asked a federal judge to block enforcement of the order. The Trump order applies to several circumstances, according to the complaint, including when either parent is considered an "alien enemy," when either is a foreign government employee, when a parent engages in a commercial transaction to "purchase or access birthright citizenship," or when a parent engages in fraud to obtain citizenship.
It also covers people born in a U.S. territory or territorial waters where Congress has not conferred citizenship by statute. The lawsuit comes amid a string of moves by the Trump administration to restrict birthright citizenship, even after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in June that children born on U.S. soil are entitled to American citizenship under the Fourteenth Amendment.
One plaintiff, identified under the pseudonym "Clara," is a French citizen who has lived in the United States for more than a decade and resides in Washington, D.C. She gave birth to her son, identified as "Nathan," in Washington in August, after the executive order was issued. Neither Clara nor her husband is an American citizen, and both are in the United States on G-4 visas and work for international organizations that possess international-organization immunity, according to the filing.
Another plaintiff, identified as "Edward," is an Australian citizen who lives in Australia with his wife. The couple has an older daughter who was born through surrogacy in the United States in 2021 and is a U.S. citizen, the complaint says. They are expecting a second child through surrogacy in the United States in October.
The filing says the couple entered into a commercial transaction with a surrogate in the U.S. to give birth, potentially placing their expected child within a category targeted by the new executive order. The third plaintiff, "Patricia," is a Western European citizen living in the United States with her husband. The couple, who both hold G-4 visas and work for international organizations, are expecting a child around April 2027.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
