15 states challenge Trump’s executive order cutting birthright citizenship
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(NEW YORK) — President Donald Trump’s bid to cut off birthright citizenship is a “flagrantly unlawful attempt to strip hundreds of thousands American-born children of their citizenship based on their parentage,” attorneys for 15 states and the city of San Francisco said Tuesday in a lawsuit challenging the president’s executive order signed just hours after he was sworn in Monday.
The lawsuit accused Trump of seeking eliminate a “well-established and longstanding Constitutional principle” by executive fiat.
“The President has no authority to rewrite or nullify a constitutional amendment or duly enacted statute. Nor is he empowered by any other source of law to limit who receives United States citizenship at birth,” the lawsuit said.
Trump’s order directed federal agencies — starting next month — to stop issuing citizenship documents to U.S.-born children of undocumented mothers or mothers in the country on temporary visas, if the father is not a U.S. citizen or permanent resident.
According to the lawsuit, about 150,000 children born each year to two parents who were noncitizens and lacked legal status could lose access to basic health care, foster care, and early interventions for infants, toddlers, and students with disabilities.
“They will all be deportable, and many will be stateless,” the lawsuit said.
The states warned the executive order would also cause them to lose federal funding for programs that render services to children regardless of their immigration status.
While Trump’s order purports to unilaterally end birthright citizenship, only the U.S. Supreme Court can determine how the 14th Amendment applies.
“President Trump’s attempt to unilaterally end birthright citizenship is a flagrant violation of our Constitution,” said New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin. “For more than 150 years, our country has followed the same basic rule: babies who are born in this country are American citizens.
The states are seeking to invalidate the executive order and stop any actions taken to implement it. Their lawsuit requests a preliminary injunction to immediately prevent the order from taking effect.
“The great promise of our nation is that everyone born here is a citizen of the United States, able to achieve the American dream,” said New York Attorney General Letitia James. “This fundamental right to birthright citizenship, rooted in the 14th Amendment and born from the ashes of slavery, is a cornerstone of our nation’s commitment to justice.”
On Tuesday, nonprofit groups in Massachusetts and New Hampshire also filed federal lawsuits challenging Trump’s birthright citizenship executive order.
(MALIBU, Calif.) — A raging wildfire fanned by strong Santa Ana winds has spread to nearly 4,000 acres in Malibu, California, destroying homes and leaving more than 20,000 people under evacuation orders, including 98-year-old actor Dick Van Dyke and other celebrities in the oceanfront community.
The Franklin Fire, which erupted Monday night near the campus of Pepperdine University, was 7% contained on Wednesday morning as more than 1,500 firefighters were deployed to battle the blaze in the rugged and hilly terrain of Malibu Canyon, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire).
Burning through thick dry vegetation, the fire has been fueled by Santa Ana winds that have topped 90 mph, officials said.
In a message posted on his Facebook page, Van Dyke, who is set to turn 99 on Friday, said he and his wife, Arlene, were forced to evacuate as flames threatened their home in the secluded community of Serra Retreat in the hills of lower Malibu Canyon. He said all of his pets, except for his beloved cat Bobo, managed to escape.
“Arlene and I have safely evacuated with our animals except for Bobo…,” Van Dyke wrote. “We’re praying he’ll be ok and that our community in Serra Retreat will survive these terrible fires.”
In a follow-up Facebook message, Van Dyke posted a video of his cat, writing, “Hoping Bobo is ok.”
Other celebrities residing in the area were forced to flee the flames or stay on lockdown. Recent Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Cher also evacuated, according to her publicist.
“Star Wars” actor Mark Hamill said in an Instagram post that he has also been affected by the fire.
“We’re in lockdown because of the Malibu fires,” the 73-year-old Hamill said in the post. “Please stay safe everyone! I’m not allowed to leave the house, which fits in perfectly with my elderly-recluse lifestyle.”
The Franklin Fire erupted just before 11 p.m. Pacific time on Monday and quickly grew amid the blustery Santa Anna winds, which blow southwest toward the Pacific Ocean.
At least seven homes have been destroyed by the fire and another eight have been damaged, according to Cal Fire.
Power to about 40,000 customers was shut off by Monday night, including 11,000 in Los Angeles County, as Southern California Edison worked to mitigate the impacts of the Santa Ana winds, whose strong gusts can damage electrical equipment and spark more wildfires.
There have been no reports of deaths or injuries. The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
Pepperdine University canceled classes for the second straight day. When the fire erupted, officials put the campus on lockdown for about six hours before the order was lifted. As the fire grew on Tuesday, students were again ordered to seek shelter in the campus center and library, where students said they watched flames creep onto campus.
“Fire activity around Pepperdine’s Malibu campus has greatly diminished as the Franklin Fire has burned through most of the fuel immediately surrounding campus, but some flames are still visible in small pockets of campus,” the university said on its website.
Malibu resident Fred Robert described to ABC News seeing flames “coming straight down Malibu Canyon like a blowtorch.”
Red Flag warnings issued by the National Weather Service signaling the high risk of fire danger remained in effect Wednesday in the Malibu area.
“Time is of the essence for us to grab hold of the fire and start getting containment,” Los Angeles County Fire Chief Anthony C. Marrone said at a news conference Tuesday evening.
Marrone said firefighters are tackling the blaze from the ground and air “as they struggle to contain this stubborn fire.”
(NEW ORLEANS , LA) — At least 10 people are dead and about 30 others are injured after a white pickup truck struck a crowd on Bourbon Street early on Wednesday, New Orleans police and city officials said.
LaToya Cantrell, the mayor of New Orleans, described the incident as a “terrorist attack.” The FBI said it wasn’t yet using that term. Anne Kirkpatrick, superintendent of police, said the driver had attempted to kill as many people as possible. She said he exited the vehicle and fired on police.
The strike appeared to be intentional, police told ABC News, adding the driver had not been taken into custody. Local authorities asked the FBI for assistance early on Wednesday, a senior federal law enforcement source told ABC News. A command center was being set up, the source said.
“A horrific act of violence took place on Bourbon Street earlier this morning,” Gov. Jeff Landry said, adding that his family was praying for the victims and first responders.
Leading up to the holidays, federal law enforcement and intelligence had warned police around the country that low-tech vehicle ramming was a key area of concern and that they needed to prepare — and that was before the German Christmas market attack on Dec. 20, in which five people were killed.
In a Dec. 9 assessment for the Times Square New Year’s Eve celebration, federal and local agencies wrote: “We remain concerned about the use of vehicle ramming against high-profile outdoor events…Vehicle ramming has become a recurring tactic employed by threat actors in the West, marked by a continued interest by (terrorists, extremists) and lone offenders in targeting crowded pedestrian areas.”
The City of New Orleans, describing Wednesday’s event as a “mass casualty incident,” said the vehicle drove into a large crowd on Canal and Bourbon streets. Police said the strike happened at about 3:15 a.m., according to ABC News affiliate WGNO.
“There are 30 injured patients that have been transported by NOEMS and 10 fatalities,” the city said, using an acronym for the New Orleans Emergency Medical Services.
The injured were taken to five local hospitals, according to the city. They were at University Medical Center, Touro Hospital, East Jefferson General Hospital, Ochsner Medical Center Jefferson Campus and Ochsner Baptist Campus.
The New Orleans Police Department said it was “staffed 100%” for New Year’s Eve and the Sugar Bowl, a college football game played annually on New Year’s Day. An additional 300 officers were on duty from partner agencies, the force said.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(WASHINGTON) — On a call with reporters on Inauguration Day morning, incoming White House officials previewed a series of executive orders and other actions they said the incoming Trump administration plans to take to address immigration and U.S. border issues.
“We will protect the American people against invasion,” one of the incoming officials said during the call. “This is about national security. This is about public safety. And this is about the victims of some of the most violent, abusive criminals we’ve seen enter our country in our lifetime. And it ends today.”
Many of the proposed executive orders revealed on Monday’s call require help from international partners like Mexico and would almost certainly spark legal battles.
Although one of the incoming officials said that the call would “preview a series of actions to be taken today,” it was not clear from the call, during which officials took very few questions from reporters, that everything about which they spoke would actually happen Monday.
Here’s a look at some of the promised executive actions:
Declaring a national emergency at the southern border
The incoming administration will be declaring a national emergency at the southern border. This will allow DoD to deploy armed forces to the region and free up resources to build a wall and other barriers there, as he promised to do during his first administration.
“What this action does is it deploys armed forces, erects physical barriers by directing DOD and DHS secretaries to finish the wall along the border, and allows for counter-UAS capabilities near the southern border in addition,” an incoming White House official said.
It’s not totally clear what the official meant by “counter-UAS capabilities,” but it is important to note that since at least the Obama administration, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has used drones and other UAS (unmanned aircraft systems) to help conduct surveillance of the southwest border.
The secretary of defense will be directed to deploy armed troops as well as the National Guard to the border, according to the call. In response to a follow-up question, an incoming White House official was unable to say how many troops will be deployed, responding that the decision “is going to be up to the secretary of defense.”
Clarifying the military’s role in ‘protecting the territorial integrity of the United States’
This executive order aims to allow the military to “prioritize our borders and territorial integrity,” an incoming White House official said during the call. The official further said that the order will direct the military to plan operations to maintain territorial integrity by “repelling forms of invasion including unlawful mass migration, narcotics trafficking, human smuggling and trafficking, and other criminal activities.”
Reinstating ‘remain in Mexico,’ ending ‘catch and release,’ and building the wall
In addition to creating federal and state partnerships to help enforce immigration policies and deportation priorities, this executive order would also aim to end the practice of “catch and release,” and mandates building a wall along the southern U.S. border.
Though often used pejoratively, “catch and release” describes the practice of releasing undocumented immigrants after they’ve been processed at the U.S. border and while they await immigration hearings in court. The term originated during the George W. Bush administration and describes a practice that has been implemented during every administration since, including Donald Trump’s first administration.
Because it’s logistically impossible to safely detain migrants indefinitely, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and other authorities release some migrants into the community to wait out their legal proceedings.
Remain in Mexico is a policy implemented during the first Trump administration that required some asylum seekers to wait in Mexico, rather than in the U.S., as their petitions were processed in U.S. courts. This action would require Mexico’s cooperation, which incoming White House officials did not address during Monday’s call.
Trump also promised during his first presidential campaign to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, and signed an executive order to that end days after assuming office. Few new sections of barrier along the border were erected during his administration, though many sections of damaged or outdated barriers were repaired or replaced.
Designating cartels as foreign terrorist organizations
The incoming administration will sign an executive order to designate drug cartels and other criminal organizations, including the U.S.-El Salvadoran-based MS-13 and Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua, as foreign terrorist organizations or specifically designated global terrorists (SDGT).
An incoming White House official said Monday that the order will direct authorities to specifically remove members of Tren de Agua from the United States. And, citing the Alien Enemies Act enacted more than two centuries ago, the official said Tren de Agua has become an “irregular armed force of Venezuela’s government conducting a predatory incursion and invasion into the United States.”
‘End[ing] asylum … to illegals’ The incoming White House official said the Trump administration is going to “end asylum and close the border to illegals via proclamation.” Essentially, this means undocumented migrants caught between ports of entry will not be able to claim asylum, which in turn will “create an immediate removal process without possibility of asylum,” the incoming official said.
Like other executive orders announced Monday, this one would possibly face legal hurdles for several reasons. Current laws allow asylum seekers the ability to attempt to request asylum or protection once they enter the country, regardless of if they crossed between ports of entry. This has been the basis for several legal battles against some of the more recent asylum restrictions that the Biden administration implemented in June 2024.
Suspending refugee resettlement
The incoming official said during Monday’s call that the incoming Trump administration also plans to suspend refugee resettlements for at least four months.
Ending birthright citizenship
An incoming officials on Monday’s call said “We are then going to end birthright citizenship. This action gives effect to the phrase ‘and subject to the jurisdiction thereof’ in the 14th Amendment to clarify that … the federal government will not recognize automatic birthright citizenship for children of illegal aliens born in the United States.”
It was unclear from Monday’s call whether ending birthright citizenship will be part of the day’s announcements or will come later. Trump made the same promise during his first term in office.
Enhanced vetting
The incoming official said Monday that the new administration is also going to “enhance vetting and screening of illegal aliens” and direct agencies to provide recommendations to the president for suspending entry for migrants from “countries of particular concern.”
Creating ‘homeland security task forces’
To help target gang members, criminals and other undocumented migrants, the new administration is planning to establish “federal homeland security task forces” so federal, state and local law enforcement can cooperate further in removing them.
Restoring the death penalty when a law enforcement officer is murdered According to the incoming official, the new administration plans to “restore the death penalty in public safety” by directing the attorney general to seek capital punishment when an undocumented immigrant murders a law enforcement officer or commits other capital crimes. The new administration will also encourage state attorneys general and district attorneys to also pursue the death penalty in such cases, according to the incoming official.
