by Donald Eng
HARTFORD, CT — State officials are examining their options following the latest attempt by President Donalds Trump to attack birthright citizenship.
“Inscribed on the Statue of Liberty is Emma Lazarus’s poem calling her the ‘Mother of Exiles,’ guiding the poor and displaced to safety,” said Gov. Ned Lamont. “President Trump and his allies are trying to replace that open door with a velvet rope, welcoming only those who fit his vision of ‘desirable’ Americans: people who look and speak a certain way, or who can pay the right price. That is not who we are as a country, and it is not something we will accept as a state.”
Just weeks after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down his previous executive order targeting birthright citizenship, Trump issued a pair of new ones that expanded the number of people he said were ineligible for citizenship and another that targeted people he said engaged in “birth tourism.”
Lamont expressed confidence that Attorney General William Tong would assess every option to counter the latest attemp”t to end automatic citizenship for those born in the country.
“The America and the Connecticut I love treat people from every background as neighbors,” he said. “We will not shut the door on them or betray our Constitution to do it.”
State Rep. Josh Elliott, the Hamden Democrat challenging Lamont to a primary for the right to represent the party on the November ballot, issued a statement of his own saying Trump had once again used the power of his office to attack children, families and communities.
“These executive orders are not about making America stronger, they are about creating fear, dividing people, and distracting from the real challenges facing working families,” he said. “This administration continues to target immigrant communities, sowing fear and ripping families apart.”
As governor, he said, Connecticut would stand with every child in the state, regardless of immigration status and he would do everything in his power to prevent the orders from taking effect.
Tong, born to immigrant parents and a U.S. citizen by birthright, has called the fight to maintain birthright citizenship personal. He called such citizenship one of the Constitution’s clearest guarantees.
“The Fourteenth Amendment means what it says, and Trump cannot rewrite it or manufacture new exemptions because the Court rejected his blatantly unconstitutional efforts,” Tong said. “We are reviewing these actions and considering all appropriate options.”