Who is Smita Ghosh? Meet the Indian-American lawyer taking on Trump’s move to end US birthright citizenship

Smita Ghosh, an Indian-American attorney, is leading a legal challenge against President Donald Trump's executive order that seeks to end birthright citizenship in the United States. The order, which targets the constitutional guarantee of citizenship for anyone born on US soil, has sparked multiple lawsuits. Ghosh is representing plaintiffs in one of those cases.

Ghosh is a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), where she focuses on immigrants' rights and national security issues. She has previously worked on cases involving detention and deportation policies. Her current challenge argues that the executive order violates the 14th Amendment of the US Constitution, which grants citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in the United States.

The executive order, issued by Trump, aims to reinterpret the 14th Amendment to exclude children of undocumented immigrants and non-citizens from automatic citizenship. Legal experts widely view the order as unconstitutional, and multiple states and advocacy groups have filed lawsuits to block it. Ghosh's case is among those seeking an injunction to prevent the order from taking effect.

Ghosh's background includes a law degree from Yale Law School and a bachelor's degree from the University of Chicago. She has been involved in high-profile litigation challenging Trump administration policies, including the travel ban and family separation at the border. Her work on birthright citizenship continues that pattern of legal opposition to the administration's immigration agenda.