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N.C. Attorney General Jeff Jackson and 18 attorneys general on Tuesday challenged an executive order issued by President Trump that aims to end birthright citizenship guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment.

The order, beginning 30 days after Trump’s signature, would strip children born in the United States of their constitutional rights and their ability to fully and fairly be American citizens. 

“This executive order is a straightforward violation of the Fourteenth Amendment, which guarantees citizenship to all people born on U.S. soil,” Jackson said. “For over a century, this principle has been upheld by the Supreme Court and remains a bedrock of our constitutional framework.

“The Constitution leaves no room for executive reinterpretation on this matter—it is clear, settled, and binding. This order seeks to undermine that clarity, creating legal uncertainty and denying fundamental rights to children born in this country.”

The new executive order, which was signed Monday, violates the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution and Section 1401 of the Immigration and Nationality Act, according to the lawsuit.

The Fourteenth Amendment states that, “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States.”

Through no fault or action of their own, these children will lose their most basic rights and live under the threat of deportation, Jackson argued.

It is also unclear how North Carolina parents would be able to document and prove that their newborns are American citizens since North Carolina birth certificates may not contain the necessary information to satisfy the requirements of the executive order.

After the Civil War, the United States adopted the Fourteenth Amendment to protect citizenship for children born in the country. The U.S. Supreme Court has repeatedly upheld birthright citizenship as far back as 1898, regardless of the immigration status of the baby’s parents.

The lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts asks the court to invalidate the executive order and stop it from being implemented. The states are requesting a preliminary injunction while the lawsuit continues.

Jackson was joined in filing this lawsuit by the attorneys general of New Jersey, Massachusetts, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawai’i, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Wisconsin, as well as the city and county of San Francisco.

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A copy of the complaint is available HERE.