A federal judge in the United States has stopped the administration of President Donald Trump from implementing a fresh executive order aimed at restricting automatic citizenship for children born in the country.
US District Judge Deborah Boardman of Maryland issued a preliminary injunction on Wednesday after immigrant rights organisations challenged Trump’s August 6 order, which sought to limit birthright citizenship in cases involving parents who are in the US unlawfully or on temporary visas.
In a 35-page ruling, Boardman held that the latest order was almost certainly unconstitutional, relying on the Supreme Court’s earlier position on the constitutional protection of children born on US soil.
“The Supreme Court has spoken: Children in the certified class are ‘citizens at birth’,” the judge stated.
The ruling was welcomed by immigrant advocacy groups, which have been challenging the Trump administration’s efforts to overhaul the country’s immigration system.
Shana Khader, Legal Director at We Are CASA, said the latest decision represented another legal setback for the administration.
“When it comes to attacking birthright citizenship, the Trump administration has lost before this court, lost before the Supreme Court, and lost again today,” she said.
Trump’s latest directive was designed to target what his administration describes as “birth tourism”, involving foreigners who travel to the US ostensibly as tourists but allegedly with the intention of giving birth there.
The administration’s earlier executive order sought to prevent children born in the US to parents who are undocumented or in the country on temporary visas from automatically acquiring American citizenship.
That order was quickly challenged in court, with lower courts blocking its implementation on the grounds that it conflicted with the 14th Amendment’s Citizenship Clause.
The Supreme Court subsequently affirmed the constitutional basis for birthright citizenship, which provides citizenship to virtually all people born on US soil.
Despite the judicial setbacks, the Trump administration has continued to pursue a broad immigration agenda, including plans to deport millions of undocumented immigrants and withdraw deportation protections previously available to nationals of more than a dozen countries.
Wednesday’s ruling represents another obstacle to the administration’s efforts to significantly alter longstanding US citizenship and immigration policies.
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