The Pregnant Immigrants Fighting Trump’s Bid to End Birthright Citizenship
Monica is due to give birth in July. Identified in court records by a pseudonym, Monica is a prime target for President Donald Trump’s looming deportation campaign. As she waits for an asylum interview, Monica lives in South Carolina under Temporary Protected Status, which Trump tried to eviscerate in his first term and threatened on the campaign trail last year.
Despite the risks, Monica is suing to stop Trump’s attempt to use an executive order to unilaterally eliminate birthright citizenship: a bedrock constitutional concept. She’s joined by five other women — some undocumented, others with pending asylum claims — according to court filings in two federal court cases. The women, all between two and seven months pregnant, came to the U.S. from Mexico, Guatemala, Venezuela, Colombia, and Russia.
Monica spoke Wednesday about her decision to join the lawsuit despite the risks of being targeted by the Trump administration.
“Our children should belong in the country where they were born,” Monica said through a translator at a press conference. “In this country.”
A broad coalition of states, civil rights groups, and immigrant advocacy organizations have filed challenges to Trump’s executive order, in a total of five federal lawsuits so far that are likely to reach the U.S. Supreme Court quickly.
But none face anywhere near the exposure of these six women, not to........
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