A group of five pregnant women and several immigrant organizations have filed a lawsuit against President Donald Trump over his executive order that limits birthright citizenship. The order, signed on Monday, aims to restrict birthright citizenship to children born to parents who are U.S. citizens or permanent residents. It also says that children born to parents who are legally in the U.S. but temporarily will not automatically receive citizenship.
On Thursday, a Seattle court temporarily blocked this order for 14 days while the case continues. The plaintiffs argue that if the order is upheld, babies born to asylum-seekers, especially from countries without U.S. embassies like Venezuela, could become “stateless.” In this situation, the baby would not be able to claim citizenship from their parents’ country due to the lack of diplomatic offices, leaving the child with no citizenship.
For example, if a child is born to Venezuelan asylum-seekers, the parents wouldn’t be able to register their child as a Venezuelan citizen because Venezuela broke diplomatic ties with the U.S. in 2019. This could create a legal and logistical nightmare for asylum-seeking parents, as their child would not have a passport or official travel document.
Monica, one of the pregnant women involved in the lawsuit, came to the U.S. with her husband in 2019, and is now 12 weeks pregnant. She is afraid of returning to Venezuela due to fear of persecution. Her case highlights the risk of creating thousands of stateless children, not just from Venezuela, but also from other countries that lack a diplomatic presence in the U.S.
In addition to Venezuelans, the lawsuit also includes pregnant women from Honduras and Russia, whose countries do have diplomatic offices in the U.S. But even they face problems. Applying for a passport for a U.S.-born child could harm the parents’ asylum cases, as it might be seen as seeking assistance from the country they are fleeing.
Some legal experts believe there may still be a way for asylum-seekers to gain birthright citizenship for their children, as the executive order does not clearly define how it applies to people in the asylum process. Several Democratic state attorneys general have also sued to block the order, and many think it could eventually be overturned by the Supreme Court.
