Illinois Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker bashed President Trump’s executive order ending birthright citizenship for children of illegal immigrants.
“That’s unconstitutional. We will not follow an unconstitutional order,” Pritzker told reporters on Monday while speaking at an unrelated event, Politico reported.
Trump’s order, “Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship,” asserts that the 14th Amendment of the Constitution does not automatically confer American citizenship to individuals who are born within the United States.
The amendment states: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.”
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Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker speaks during a transgender support rally at Federal Building Plaza on April 27, 2022, in Chicago, Illinois. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)
Some legal experts have said that such a move is a constitutional change and cannot be made by executive order. The move will almost certainly face a challenge in court from civil rights groups and immigration activists.
Trump advisers and some conservative legal scholars have previously argued that the idea of giving birthright citizenship to children of illegal immigrants is based on a misreading of the amendment.
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President Donald Trump holds up an executive orders after signing it at an indoor Presidential Inauguration parade event in Washington, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
The Democratic governor also took several swings at Trump as the 47th president unleashed a flurry of executive actions intended to make good on campaign promises to crack down on illegal immigration, end federal DEI programs and more. Pritzker, who is known to harbor presidential ambitions, said the rapid fire executive actions from Trump were not communicated to state governors ahead of time.
“They have not communicated with us. I’m reading the same thing you are,” he said. “This is indicative of what you’re going to see of the Trump administration for the next four years. It’s chaos.”
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U.S. President Donald Trump sings a second executive order during the inaugural parade inside Capital One Arena on the inauguration day of his second presidential term, in Washington, U.S. January 20, 2025. (REUTERS/Carlos Barria)
He also echoed concerns former President Biden raised in his farewell address of an oligarchy of ultra-wealthy entrepreneurs who have cozied up to Trump. Silicon Valley titans Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos were high-profile attendees at Trump’s inauguration.
“He’s got the oligarchs sitting on the front row of his inauguration. It shows who he cares about. It’s the wealthiest people in America who are cow-towing to him and not ordinary Americans. He does not care about ordinary Americans,” said Pritzker, who himself is a billionaire member of the wealthy Pritzker family, which owns the Hyatt hotel chain.
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Pritzker claimed his biggest problem with the new administration is “the intent to attack people’s rights. That is something we will have to put up with or deal with every single day of this administration.”