Press Releases

01/20/2025

Attorney General Tong Statement on Trump Attack on Birthright Citizenship

(Hartford, CT) – Attorney General William Tong released the following statement regarding President Donald Trump’s unconstitutional executive order attacking birthright citizenship.

“This is a war on American families waged by a President with zero respect for our Constitution. We will sue imminently, and I have every confidence we will win. The 14th Amendment says what it means, and it means what it says—if you are born on American soil, you are an American. Period. Full stop. There is no legitimate legal debate on this question. But the fact that Trump is dead wrong will not prevent him from inflicting serious harm right now on American families like my own. Abolishing birthright citizenship will cause chaos across Connecticut and the United States, with babies born here lacking legal status anywhere, imperiling their future careers, education, healthcare, and more in the only country they will have known. My parents and grandparents ran for their lives, they fled war and hunger and ultimately made it to Connecticut with nothing. They worked until their bodies broke in the hot kitchens of Chinese restaurants so that I could become the first American born in my family—a citizen by right of my birth here in Hartford, Connecticut. My life would not be possible without birthright citizenship. This is the core of the American dream, and part of the essential character of our nation. We knew this fight was coming, and we are prepared.”

Twitter: @AGWilliamTong

Facebook: CT Attorney General

Media Contact:

Elizabeth Benton
elizabeth.benton@ct.gov

Consumer Inquiries:

860-808-5318
attorney.general@ct.gov