AZ Attorney General Mayes Joins Multi-State Lawsuit to Overturn Trump’s Move to Eliminate Birthright Citizenship

At a press event announcing Arizona’s joining of a multi-state lawsuit with Illinois, Oregon, and Washington State to contest Donald Trump’s Executive Order attempt to do away with Birthright Citizenship, State Attorney General Kris Mayes quoted the first sentence of the Fourteenth Amendment which states:

All persons born and naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and the states wherein they reside.”

Calling Mr. Trump’s Executive Order to do away with Birthright Citizenship “An affront to the Constitution he had sworn an oath to protect,” Mayes went on to say:

If allowed to stand, this unconstitutional order would annually deprive thousands of newborns the citizenship and privileges they are entitled to, and those children, in Arizona, when they grow up, will lose the ability to fully and fairly participate in American Society as citizens despite the Constitutions guarantee of their citizenship.”

Mayes continued, stating:

“As I said after the election, I will not allow Donald Trump to shred the United States Constitution. This Executive Order has nothing to do with national security, or protecting American jobs. At its core, it is a complete rejection of the American Dream and the values that have served as the bedrock of our great nation. It is designed to intimidate with cruelty and chaos.”

Birthright Citizenship…has helped make our country the strong, prosperous, and great nation that it is today. But the President wants to twist history and have us pretend that the words written in the Fourteenth Amendment and a century and a half of legal precedent do not mean anything. He is dead wrong.”

After discussing an 1898 Supreme Court case that reaffirmed the provisions of the Fourteenth Amendment, Mayes stated:

No President can unilaterally change the Constitution on a whim. Only Constitutional Amendments can change the Constitution…Our lawsuit asserts the President acted far beyond the bounds of his legal authority in issuing this order…Unlawfully stripping U.S. citizens of their right to citizenship will impact their future ability to vote, travel abroad, secure housing, access health care, seek employment, run for public office, serve on juries, and more generally, participate fully in American Society.”

“This lawless order…is an attack on families and children in this state and across this country.”

After commenting on how this Executive Order, if left unchallenged, would cost Arizona hundreds of millions of dollars, negatively impact vulnerable children, and hinder the voting registration process, the Attorney General offered:

The Fourteenth Amendment protects every American Citizen, no matter their ancestry. Only in a nation where every child is born with the same inalienable God-Given rights can any of us truly be free. That is why we cannot and will not allow the Constitution to be undermined in this way and this illegal order will not stand.”

Later on social media, the Attorney General and her team posted:

To support Attorney General Mayes’s contention that the Trump Executive Order is motivated by cruelty and chaos, it should be noted that Mr. Whites Only issued a directive to I.C.E. officials today that would allow them to arrest migrants in schools, churches, and health care facilities.

After the Attorney General’s press event, Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs and her communications team issued a press release announcing the Arizona Department of Health Services and AHCCCS would file legal declarations to supply documentation supporting the multi-state lawsuit against the Trump Executive Order.

In that release, the Governor said:

“Ending birthright citizenship is unconstitutional and un-American. We should protect what makes our country exceptional, not tear it down. And it would cause chaos in our state government, making it harder for our state to deliver the critical services that Arizonans rely on and burden Arizona taxpayers with increased costs. We should take common-sense steps to secure our border and protect our communities, but ending birthright citizenship will not do that. I urge the president to reconsider a policy that attacks our country’s ideals and does not secure our border.”

Arizona Representative Yassamin Ansari reacted to Mayes actions by posting:

Senator Ruben Gallego, in his post praising Mayes, stated:

“The Constitution is not subject to the whims of a president. The 14th Amendment is clear, and so are the values we hold as Americans. Thank you @AZAGMayes for standing up to this anti-American and unconstitutional executive order.”


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