(HARTFORD, CT) – Governor Ned Lamont released the following statement regarding the latest executive orders signed by President Donald Trump attacking 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. 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. The America and the Connecticut I love treat people from every background as neighbors. We will not shut the door on them or betray our Constitution to do it.
“The Fourteenth Amendment guarantees birthright citizenship. Just weeks ago, a Supreme Court majority rejected President Trump’s attempt to circumvent it, and I am confident our attorney general will assess every option to counter this administration’s latest unconstitutional scheme.
“President Trump may want to rewrite who counts as American, but Connecticut has made its values clear. As federal support has been withdrawn, we’ve increased funding for the health care, nutrition, and housing services immigrant families rely on, helped sustain refugee resettlement agencies, and enacted some of the strongest limits in the nation on state and local cooperation with ICE—so our law-abiding neighbors can live and work without fear. That is who we choose to be, and we will keep defending it with every tool we have.”