HELENA – Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen joined a coalition of 18 attorneys general in defending President Donald J. Trump’s executive order that protects the value of American citizenship and closes a birthright citizenship loophole that incentivizes illegal immigration.

In an amicus brief filed Monday in New Hampshire Indonesian Community Support v. President Donald Trump, the attorneys general ask the United States District Court of New Hampshire to deny the plaintiff’s motion for preliminary injunction as the order is constitutional and follows the 14th Amendment, which does not grant citizenship to the children of illegal immigrants simply because they were born on American soil.

“For the past four years, disastrous immigration policies transformed every State into a border state by flooding them with illegal aliens, including criminals convicted of crimes in their home country, violent international gang members, and suspected ISIS terrorists.” the attorneys general wrote. “Removing the incentive for illegal aliens to give birth in America will reduce illegal immigration. In turn, this will reduce States’ costs from illegal immigration and births by illegal aliens. Because the Executive Order is constitutional and vital, the Amici States urge the Court to deny a preliminary injunction.”

President Trump’s executive order eliminates an incentive for illegal immigration by reserving birthright citizenship for children born in the United States to American citizens or legal noncitizens like lawful permanent residents.

The original meaning of the 14th Amendment supports the President’s executive order. As the attorneys general note in their brief, while the topic remains hotly debated, many scholars who have studied the 14th Amendment have concluded that illegal immigrants are “not entitled to birthright citizenship under the Constitution.” And according to one judge, the citizenship clause interpretation advanced by the plaintiffs in this case “makes no sense.”

Additionally, the plaintiffs’ interpretation is inconsistent with the Supreme Court’s earliest opinions.

President Trump’s executive order also reduces harm to the states as the plaintiff’s interpretation of the citizenship clause incentivizes illegal immigration and lures pregnant women from foreign countries to give birth on American soil, even if they must enter the country illegally to do so. Illegal immigration has put an enormous financial burden on the states. States and localities pay an estimated $115 billion each year because of illegal immigration as they cover public education, welfare, and other state program costs for illegal aliens and their children.

“Illegal immigration imposes significant costs on the States and their people. And creating incentives for illegal immigration puts lives at risk. Allowing virtually anyone born on American soil to claim American citizenship creates incentives for illegal immigration and exacerbates States’ costs,” the attorneys general wrote.

Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming also joined the Iowa-led brief.

Click here to read the brief.