Attorney General Raúl Torrez Challenges Unconstitutional Executive Order Ending Birthright Citizenship

Santa Fe, NM –  Today, Attorney General Raúl Torrez and 17 other states, along with the District of Columbia, announced a joint filing that challenges President Donald Trump’s executive order ending birthright citizenship, which violates the constitutional rights to which all children born in the United States are entitled.

“President Trump’s executive order ending birthright citizenship is a direct attack on the Constitution and the fundamental rights it guarantees to every child born on American soil,” said Attorney General Raúl Torrez. “The Fourteenth Amendment is clear: citizenship is not a privilege to be granted or revoked by political whim—it is a right enshrined in the very fabric of our nation. We will not stand by as this administration attempts to dismantle the principles of equality and justice that define who we are as Americans. New Mexico, alongside our partner states, is taking decisive action to defend the Constitution and protect the rights of all our children.”

To halt the President’s unconstitutional action, which threatens the rights of hundreds of thousands of American children, Attorney General Torrez has joined a coalition of states in filing a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts. The lawsuit seeks to invalidate the executive order and block any actions to enforce it. The states are requesting immediate relief through a Temporary Restraining Order and a Preliminary Injunction to prevent the order from taking effect.

States joining New Mexico in today’s filing include New Jersey, Massachusetts, California, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Michigan, Colorado, Delaware, Nevada, Hawai’i, Maryland, Maine, Minnesota, Vermont, Wisconsin and North Carolina, along with the District of Columbia and the City of San Francisco.

 

A copy of the complaint is attached.

2025 0121 Complaint