Ex-DOJ Official Says Trump Will Lose in Court 'Every Day' if He Passes One Order: "There's No Way..."

Former President Donald Trump secured a second term in the White House with his historic win on 5 November. The Trump 2.0 cabinet is getting ready to make significant changes to its policies and positions when it returns to office in January. As per Reuters, one of Trump's election agendas was that he would end birthright citizenship for children born to illegal immigrants. According to Raw Story, experts have voiced concerns as the new Trump administration is anticipated to attack the United States' program for refugee resettlement. "No, last I checked the President can't override the Constitution," ex-DOJ official Neal Katyal argued while appearing on MSNBC. 

“The 14th Amendment is as clear as day that there is no way he can do that," he added. "If he tries that, he will lose in court every day of the week.” NPR reports that immigrant rights groups nationwide have united to oppose any such policy by the President-elect. Deeming Trump's proposed bill 'cruel' Maribel Hernández Rivera, the director of policy and government affairs for border and immigration at the ACLU said, “We’ve been preparing — we have the legal tools, we have the advocacy tools and, more importantly, we have people."

Murad Awawdeh, president of the New York Immigration Coalition stated that the groups will use lawsuits, local legislation, and protests to put up a fight. “This time I feel that we are better prepared and know what to expect and are ready to fight his racist deportation agenda with our members and allies,” he said. 

While state chapters of the American Civil Liberties Union have been developing a plan to build a firewall against the Trump administration, rights organizations have developed a federal advocacy program. Rivera added that the group is prepared to rally its four million members to protect immigrants. As per NBC News, in a May campaign video, Trump reiterated his demand to abolish the constitutional privilege and declared that he would sign an executive order on his first day in office to ensure children born to parents without legal status in the United States would not be regarded as citizens of the country.

“The United States is among the only countries in the world that says even if neither parent is a citizen or even lawfully in the country, their future children are automatic citizens the moment the parents trespass onto our soil,” the President-elect said in the video. Birthright citizenship proponents acknowledge that Trump's proposal would be met with massive resistance from all political quarters. 

Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies backed the move. He said, “It’s something that the Supreme Court may well decide against the President if he were to take this step." If Trump were to lose that case, Krikorian argued that he would next make an attempt to alter the Constitution.