Wisconsin joins challenge of Trump executive order ending birthright citizenship

Gov. Tony Evers and Attorney General Josh Kaul say Wisconsin is joining a coalition of states challenging an executive order by President Donald Trump claiming to end birthright citizenship.

Trump’s executive order asserts that the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution “has never been interpreted to extend citizenship universally to everyone born within the United States.” It claims people born to parents who are “unlawfully present” and even those whose parents were lawfully in the U.S. under temporary visas will no longer be recognized as citizens by the federal government.

In a joint statement, Evers and Kaul said Trump’s order violates the U.S. Constitution and said Wisconsin has joined a lawsuit with a coalition of 17 other states and two cities seeking to block it.

“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,” Evers said. “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.”

Kaul said the Constitution, federal law and U.S. Supreme Court precedent “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,” Kaul said.

Kaul and Evers said if Trump’s executive order holds, it would lead to states like Wisconsin losing federal funding for programs they administer like Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program.

A spokesperson for Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the announcement from Evers and Kaul.

Just after retaking the presidency, Trump signed a bevy of executive orders that overturned 78 executive orders signed by his predecessor, former President Joe Biden. Trump signed other orders that withdrew the U.S. from the World Health Organization and directed the Gulf of Mexico to be renamed the Gulf of America in addition to pardoning more than 1,500 people charged in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol.