TRANSCRIPT
"Donald Trump and Republican politicians have embarked on a campaign to radically alter American society by stripping away constitutional, legal and civil rights, ending birthright citizenship, and pushing people into the shadows."
An executive order to redefine birthright citizenship in the US first condemned by the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, then by a US judge.
In the first legal setback to Trump's hardline policies on immigration, a Seattle-based District Judge John Coughenour on Thursday issued a 14-day block on the order at the urging of four Democratic-led states – Washington, Arizona, Illinois and Oregon.
He called the move blatantly unconstitutional.
This is Washington State Attorney General Nick Brown.
"The judge issued a temporary restraining order, directing the United States government to take no further action in enforcing and implementing the unconstitutional and un-American executive order attempting to eliminate birthright citizenship in America. This is step one but to hear the judge from the bench that in his 40 years as a judge, he has never seen something so blatantly unconstitutional sets the tone for the seriousness of this effort."
Birthright citizenship has been in place since the Supreme Court ruled that children born in the US to non-citizen parents are entitled to American citizenship – 127 years ago.
But Trump and his supporters have argued that the system is being abused and there should be tougher standards for becoming an American citizen.
Here's Republican Diana Harshbarger.
"You know, this is a big time industry with birthright citizenship. People will come from many, many countries to give birth and they pay a lot of money to get here. So this bill would negate that and so therefore would stop that stream. People come for nefarious reasons."
And more from Republican Mike Collins.
"Common sense tells me that these folks ain't over here on vacation, y'all, and just happen to go in labour. They're coming across the border down there illegally, and they're using us like the international piggy bank. Well, two things are about to happen. Number one, that border is going to be closed. Illegal immigration, don't come across it unless you come across it legally. Number two, if you want to come into this country from now on, this is America first. Come over here, help assimilate and advance the American culture."
The order asserts that a child born in the US is not a citizen if:
1) the mother does not have legal immigration status or is in the country legally but only temporarily, and
2) the father is not a US citizen or lawful permanent resident.
It forbids US agencies from issuing any document recognising such a child as a citizen or accept any state document recognising citizenship.
It means that more than 150,000 newborn children would be denied citizenship annually, according to the Democratic-led states.
The order has already become the subject of five lawsuits by civil rights groups and Democratic attorneys general from 22 states, who all call it a flagrant violation of the US Constitution.
Here's lawyer and congresswoman, Sylvia Garacia.
'I think some people need to just sit down and read the damn constitution because, frankly, if you read it, there is just no question, the founders were crystal clear after debates. They simply said all persons, all persons, didn't even use a gender born, born, that made you were born in the United States or naturalised United States who are citizens of the United States."
That analysis is echoed by Associate Director of the Migrant Policy Institute, Julia Gelatt.
"Ever since 1868 and the ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment, everyone born in the United States, almost everyone has been considered a US citizen at birth. The exceptions have been really tiny. The children who are born to high-ranking diplomats are not considered to be US citizens, but everyone else has been considered a US citizen. That's a big, important part of how we treat immigrants and kids born in the United States."
She says the consequences will be dire.
"In countries where there isn't birthright citizenship, many children are born stateless. Some children of immigrants can get the citizenship that their parents have from their parents' home country, but others don't have membership either in the country where they're born or the country where their parents are from. That means they can't access passports. They can't travel internationally. They don't have any place that they can vote and have a say in the government. They really grow up without any sense of belonging anywhere."
Trump said the decision was "no surprise," adding " obviously, we will appeal."
