A federal judge in Seattle temporarily blocked the executive order at a hearing last week.
SEATTLE — A lawsuit filed Friday in a Seattle federal court alleged President Donald Trump’s executive order eliminating birthright citizenship violates the rights of three local pregnant women.
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of three women who are not U.S. citizens by the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project. It is a class-action complaint includes President Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and other federal officials as defendants.
Trump’s order, titled “Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship” would require a newborn to have one parent that is either a U.S. citizen or a legal permanent resident to be eligible for citizenship.
Almost immediately, Washington Attorney General Nick Brown sued the Trump administration over the executive order, arguing the executive order violates the 14th Amendment, which states “a person born in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof” is a U.S. citizen.
A federal judge at a Seattle hearing on Thursday sided with Brown and put a temporary hold on the order, which was set to go into effect 30 days after it was signed.
All three women represented in Friday’s lawsuit have children who will be born between March and July. Two of the plaintiffs expressed concern “the (executive order) EO puts her family at risk of separation, and her expected child may become a target for immigration enforcement.”
Though just three plaintiffs are named in the suit, it seeks to represent a class that includes: “All pregnant persons residing in Washington State who will give birth in the United States on or after February 19, 2025, where neither parent of the expected child is a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident at the time of the child’s birth; and, all children residing in Washington State who are born in the United States on or after February 19, 2025, where neither of their parents is a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident at the time of the child’s birth.”
The lawsuit aims to stop the executive order from being enforced and declared that the children of the plaintiffs will be citizens regardless of what the executive order said. The executive order violates the Fourteenth Amendment, according to the lawsuit.
After the order was blocked in a Seattle court, the Department of Justice later said in a statement it would “vigorously defend” the president’s executive order, which it said “correctly interprets the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.”
“We look forward to presenting a full merits argument to the Court and to the American people, who are desperate to see our Nation’s laws enforced,” the department said.