Federal judge rejects “blatantly unconstitutional” executive edict

LULAC CEO Juan Proaño reflects on today's ruling on birthright citizenship

On Tuesday, just hours after promising to uphold the United States Constitution, President Trump launched an attack seeking to undermine it. Among the slew of his day-one anti-immigrant decrees was an effort to rewrite the Constitution’s 14^th Amendment. The amendment, which guarantees the citizenship of all children born in the United States, was ratified in 1868. It was reaffirmed by a Supreme Court decision in 1898, which expressly confirmed that children born here to immigrant parents were entitled to U.S. citizenship. Trump’s policy disregards legal precedents and could create stateless individuals or deport U.S. born-children alongside their families, exacerbating the humanitarian crisis.

This attack is just one of seemingly countless acts—from major decrees on immigration raids aimed at terrorizing Black and Brown communities to ending asylum programs to the petty deletion of the Spanish language version of the White House’s website. A particularly troubling consequence of these rollbacks is the erosion of language accessibility. This was not just an administrative decision; it was a clear marginalization of Spanish-speaking populations. Without access to critical information in their preferred language, many Latinos are left uninformed and disconnected from vital government resources. The worst part is that these acts are not meant to solve our immigration policy problems, they are simply red meat for an electorate that has been fed lies and disinformation for far too long.

However, this morning, Federal District Court Judge John C. Coughenour issued a ruling to temporarily block President Trump’s unlawful executive decree attempting to end automatic citizenship for anybody born on American soil. The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), the nation’s oldest and largest Latino civil rights organization, of which I am CEO, fights to protect the civil rights of not only Latinos but all immigrants regardless of the origin of race, ethnicity, or religion. We have been at the forefront of defending the constitutional rights of all individuals in the United States, particularly those impacting Latino communities. So we were—of course—strongly in favor of the federal judge stopping this attack on our constitution. The right to birthright citizenship is irrevocable and should not be tampered with.

The ruling landed like a gut-wrenching blow, striking at the core of President Trump’s efforts to overhaul the nation’s immigration laws and reverse decades of established precedent. The court’s rejection of President Trump’s executive order came just days after he signed it, seeking to not just deny citizenship to children born in the United States, but also to undocumented immigrants, as well as to those born to mothers legally here on temporary visas, such as tourists, students, or workers. Had it gone through, it would have profoundly affected families like that of one of our plaintiffs, an undocumented woman who is the mother of a U.S. citizen and is expecting another child soon. If Trump’s executive order had been upheld, what would have happened to a family like hers (in effect, a mixed-status family)? Would they deport the mom, the newborn, and the child who is a US citizen?

Fortunately, Judge Coughenour recognized the executive order as being “blatantly unconstitutional.” We are encouraged by the rational ruling today, but also know that the next four years will require consistent vigilance to continue to help protect the civil rights of these individuals.

After Monday’s inauguration, after the boasting of forthcoming immigration raids, people started avoiding leaving their homes due to fear of getting swept up in a raid and being torn from their families and communities. These types of enforcement actions are indiscriminate—meaning they often end up detaining people of various status, including protected status and legal citizens. It is cruel; it is misguided; and it wastes much-needed resources while causing unthinkable heartache.

The Trump administration’s threats reveal how little the president is considering the future, let alone evaluating the consequences of his actions upon any other human being. He is only concerned with how he sounds, and what gets him the loudest cheers. Mass deportations, in addition to wreaking havoc within our communities, weaken law enforcement capacity and tank our economy. Who is going to rebuild Los Angeles? Grow and serve our food?

LULAC supports stemming the flow of immigration at the border and deporting undocumented immigrants with a criminal background. We support smart, constitutional, common-sense immigration policy that is humane and provides border security and a path to citizenship for those here while still abiding by our deepest-held traditions as Americans. We do not support family separation, and we do not support deporting immigrants who have been in this country for a decade or more, who have children, have started small businesses, and who make a positive contribution to the American economy.

With these executive orders, the President has violated the civil rights of American citizens and their immigrant family members. We will fight back on birthright citizenship and its appeals. We will take a stand on mass immigration raids and attempts at denaturalization. Trump’s actions are racist, shameful, and an assault on the rule of law. When he vowed to overturn territorial birthright citizenship, he said, “We’re going to end [it] because it’s ridiculous.”

It’s a sad day when an elected president labels the 14th Amendment, which is over 150 years old, as ridiculous. At LULAC, we understand that targeting immigrant communities just because they are immigrants—let us all be clear—is an effort to restrict equality. We cannot let this continue. We all know that this country is composed of immigrants, and birthright citizenship is a cornerstone of that. These are your neighbors, colleagues, and community members—people whose work and presence strengthen our nation. To terrorize and isolate them is both inhumane and un-American. Anybody who claims to be patriotic will resist Trump’s clear effort to redefine what this country looks like moving forward.

Of course, the Latino community is certainly encouraged by today’s ruling. We should all be encouraged, frankly, because it proves that actions can happen through the courts. We have 535 counsels around the country, and over 325,000 members. Most of those members remain very concerned and very unnerved by the president’s decisions and stances surrounding immigration. We can only hope this will lead to pathways for other legal wins. Our members are ready to activate as needed to protect civil rights. That is what we're here to do.

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Juan Proaño has served as the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) Chief Executive Officer (CEO) since November 2023. As LULAC’s CEO, Juan oversees the day-to-day operations at LULAC, identifies strategic growth areas, and works to amplify the organization’s advocacy initiatives and action-oriented programs. To learn more, please visit https://lulac.org/