New Mexico attorney general Raúl Torrez has given a mixed response to today’s US Supreme Court ruling relating to birthright citizenship.
The AG’s afternoon statement followed the morning announcement that the high court would not allow nationwide injunctions issued by lower courts to stand.
After President Trump issued an executive order to end birthright citizenship in January, New Mexico joined 21 states suing to halt the order.
In response to the complaint, a Seattle judge’s injunction ruling blocked the order nationwide.
But when the Trump Administration asked the Supreme Court to take it on, its request was limited to implementing the executive order only in states that had not challenged the order in the lawsuit.
That means birthright citizenship still stands in New Mexico.
In the 28 states that didn’t sue, the ruling could mean the end of granting citizenship to U.S. born children of undocumented immigrants.
Common cause president Virginia Kase Solomon predicted the Trump Administration would use the ruling to “illegally deport citizens in violation of the 14th amendment.”
AG Torrez’s statement said the DOJ was “disappointed” with the high court’s decision to allow the “unconstitutional” executive order to be enforced.
He also wrote that “New Mexicans should take comfort in the fact that this decision will not impact our communities.”
Among the other states that joined the January lawsuit against the order ending birthright citizenship, besides New Mexico, were California, Colorado, and Nevada.
