(From left) Marathon County Supervisor John Robinson, Wausau Mayor Katie Rosenberg, Wisconsin AG Josh Kaul, and Governor Tony Evers. MWC photo by Mike Leischner.
MADISON, WI (WSAU) – Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers and Attorney General Josh Kaul have joined a group of states challenging the Trump administration over its intention to remove birthright citizenship in the United States.
According to a joint press release, the lawsuit will be filed in the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts, and Gov. Evers described the policy as an attack on people’s rights, saying, “Attempting to deny citizenship to kids who were born in the United States of America is as egregious and wrong-headed as it is unconstitutional. We must defend Americans’ constitutional rights, including the rights of kids who are born on U.S. soil, and that is exactly what we are doing today.”
“The Constitution, federal law, and Supreme Court precedent all make clear that the children who would be impacted by this executive order are United States citizens. This attempt to deny them citizenship in blatant violation of the Constitution should be rejected,” said Attorney General Kaul.
States and cities joining Wisconsin in the filing include Democratic-run New Jersey, Massachusetts, California, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Michigan, Colorado, Delaware, Nevada, Hawaii, Maryland, Maine, Minnesota, New Mexico, Vermont, North Carolina, the District of Columbia, and the City of San Francisco.
Ending birthright citizenship has been a key focus of President Trump’s immigration policy, with cases of migrants coming to the United States specifically to have children as a way to avoid the need for formally applying for citizenship and then being able to use chain migration policies more easily to bring other family members from around the world into the country increasing in recent years.
According to immigration law, US citizens cannot petition for their direct relatives, including parents, to immigrate until they are 21, but once the child reaches the age of 21 and his or her parents, and siblings have entered the country illegally, immigration organizations such as the American Immigration Council and Immigration Advocates Network can connect them with lawyers who can assist them in obtaining permanent or temporary status as immediate relatives, preventing ICE or CBP from requesting deportation.
The foreign-born population in the United States reached a record 47.8 million in 2023, up 1.6 million from the previous year and marked the highest annual rise in more than two decades, dating back to 2000, according to Pew Research. In 1970, immigrants made up 4.7% of the U.S. population; and as of last fall, they made up 14.3%, a nearly triple increase.
On Monday, Trump also announced the shutdown of the CBP One app, which helped the previous administration bring in over one million migrants by scheduling asylum claim appointments at the southern border before they were allowed to enter with a court date that could be ten or more years later and transported by bus or plane at taxpayer expense to rural states such as Wisconsin, Ohio, and the Dakotas, among others.
The President enters the White House with strong polling numbers, as a recent CNN/SSRS poll found 55% of Americans approve of his administration’s handling of the transition process, and a CBS poll from this past Sunday found 60% of Americans optimistic about the next four years, including 61% of Latino respondents, 49% of African-American respondents, 55% of female respondents, 30% of Democrats, and 54% Independent respondents.
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