Rhode Island Attorney General Peter F. Neronha is teaming up with 19 other states to challenge President Donald Trump’s executive order on birthright citizenship, calling it unconstitutional.
The order, signed on January 20, 2025, aims to deny citizenship to children born in the U.S. to non-citizen parents. This move goes against both the 14th Amendment and the Immigration and Nationality Act.
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Neronha and his fellow plaintiffs have filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts. They’re asking the court to invalidate the order and stop it from being put into action.
“President Trump wasted no time using executive power to try and change the Constitution in a way we’ve never seen before,” Neronha said. “The Fourteenth Amendment is clear: if you’re born here, this is your home and your country, no matter where your family came from.”
The lawsuit is pushing for quick action, requesting both a temporary restraining order and a preliminary injunction to prevent the order from taking effect.
Neronha’s office points out that the executive order goes against two U.S. Supreme Court decisions that uphold birthright citizenship, regardless of the parents’ immigration status.
Several states have joined Rhode Island in this legal battle, including California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Vermont, and Wisconsin. The District of Columbia and San Francisco are also on board as plaintiffs.
Katherine Connolly Sadeck, the Solicitor General, is handling the case for Rhode Island’s Office of the Attorney General.
