BOSTON (WBZ NewsRadio) — A federal judge in Boston held a hearing on Friday in a lawsuit by 18 attorneys general across the country to block President Donald Trump's executive order ending birthright citizenship for children born to parents who do not have legal status.
U.S. District Judge Leo Sorokin said he would take the request under advisement. He was the third federal judge this week to hear arguments in lawsuits against the order.
Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell is among the plaintiffs in the lawsuit at the center of Friday's hearing.
"We said before this president took office that we have tools in our respective offices to fight back, including running to court, getting a temporary restraining order, a preliminary injunction, whatever we needed to stop this administration from harming our constituents," Campbell said.
The lawsuit asks for a preliminary injunction against the order.
It is one of several lawsuits fighting the order. Earlier this week, a judge in a separate lawsuit out of Maryland issued a nationwide pause on the order. Then on Thursday, a judge in Seattle put the order on hold as well.
Campbell said it is "sheer hypocrisy" for lawmakers to voice their support for ending birthright citizenship, which is a right codified in the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
"And I think it's their attempt to not only attempt to undermine the Constitution and attempt to eradicate it, [but] to also distract our people from the issues that matter the most," Campbell said.
The 14th Amendment says "all persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside." The Trump administration argues that children born to noncitizen parents are not entitled to citizenship because noncitizens are not "subject to the jurisdiction" of the United States.
Another challenge from the American Civil Liberties Union in New Hampshire will go before a federal judge on Monday.
WBZ NewsRadio's James Rojas (@JamesRojasMMJ) reports.
