Nebraska AG joins fray over birthright citizenship, draws criticism from some

LINCOLN — Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers’ entry into the growing conflict over President Donald Trump’s directive to end birthright citizenship has sparked criticism from statewide civil rights and immigrant advocate groups.

Hilgers and Republican counterparts in 17 other states signed onto a so-called friend of the court brief filed Monday in support of Trump’s executive order.

Marty Ramirez, co-chair of Las Voces Nebraska, an advocacy group representing Latinos and immigrants, said Hilgers is “riding a tidal wave” of politicians following nonsensical acts to avoid upsetting Trump.

“He has to join or Nebraska pays a consequence,” Ramirez said. “It’s a dangerous movement.”

Fourteenth amendment

Issued on the first day of his new presidency, Trump’s “Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship” order instructs federal officials not to issue documents recognizing the U.S. citizenship of children born after Feb. 19 to parents who were in the country without proper authorization or in the states lawfully but temporarily.

According to Hilgers, the nation’s immigration system is broken in part “because of the idea that the child of any person who is here illegally, under nearly any set of circumstances, receives the privilege of United States citizenship so long as they are born here.”

He echoed Trump in calling that a mistake. 

Said Hilgers: “We stand with Iowa and our sister states in defending the executive order, and urging the Court to restore the original meaning of the Fourteenth Amendment.” 

Hilgers and the GOP group, led by Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird, filed their amicus brief in the wake of a flurry of lawsuits challenging the Trump order by groups including the American Civil Liberties Union, immigrant rights organizations and Democrat-led states.

In their brief, the Republican attorneys general argue that “allowing virtually anyone born on American soil to claim American citizenship creates incentives for illegal immigration and exacerbates states’ costs.”

They argue, like the Trump administration, that the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution did not intend to grant citizenship to every child born on U.S. soil. 

The Hilgers group argued that immigration policies during the Biden administration “transformed every state into a border state by flooding them with illegal aliens, including criminals convicted of crimes in their home country, violent international gang members, and suspected ISIS terrorists.”

ACLU Nebraska fired back, calling Hilgers’ action a “waste of state resources and deeply harmful.”

Judge issues nationwide injunction blocking Trump executive order on birthright citizenship

“He knows that this order violates the clear text of the U.S. Constitution and more than a century of Supreme Court precedent,” said Rose Godinez, legal director of ACLU Nebraska. 

Birthright citizenship is a core piece of the Constitution, she said, adding that the Nebraska chapter was proud of colleagues and clients working to permanently overturn the “cruel and unlawful order.”

“Contrary to the attorney general’s claims, Nebraskans know that immigrants make our state and our nation stronger,” Godinez.

Blocks to Trump order 

On Wednesday, a federal judge in Maryland blocked President Trump’s executive order. The nationwide preliminary injunction by U.S District Judge Deborah Boardman expanded a ruling two weeks ago by another federal court in Seattle that blocked the president’s order for 14 days, saying it was “blatantly unconstitutional.”

Boardman’s preliminary injunction puts the executive order on hold until the merits of the case are resolved, barring a successful Trump administration appeal. More hearings are set to come soon in other birthright citizenship cases.

In addition to Iowa and Nebraska, other state attorneys general endorsing the friend-of-the-court brief were: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, Wyoming.