A federal judge has blocked President Donald Trump’s executive order on birthright citizenship, tagging it ‘blatantly unconstitutional.’ The temporary restraining order, issued at the urging of four Democratic-led states, prevents Trump’s administration from enforcing the order.
Seattle-based, U.S. District Judge John Coughenour issued a temporary restraining order at the encouragement of four Democratic-led states – Washington, Arizona, Illinois and Oregon – to temporarily prevent the administration from enforcing the order. Trump had signed the order on Monday, his first day back in the White House.
Trump has said that his administration will appeal Coughenour’s ruling and already, his executive order had directed U.S. agencies to refuse to recognise the citizenship of children born in the United States if neither their mother nor father is a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident.
The judge to a U.S. Justice Department lawyer had defended Trump’s order, saying;
“I am having trouble understanding how a member of the bar could state unequivocally that this order is constitutional. It just boggles my mind.”
The states argued that President Trump’s order violated the right laid out in the citizenship clause of the U.S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment that provides that anyone born in the United States is a citizen.
Coughenour’s order prevents Trump’s policy from being enforced nationwide for 14 days while the judge deliberates on whether to issue a long-lasting preliminary injunction or not. He will hear arguments over whether to do so on February 6.
Under Trump’s executive order, any child(ren) born in the United States after February 19 whose mother and father are not American citizens or lawful permanent residents would be subject to deportation and be prevented from obtaining Social Security numbers, various government benefits and the ability to work lawfully as they get older.
The Justice Department has made plans to file papers next week to urge the judge to not issue a longer injunction, according to Shumate, with a Justice Department spokesperson saying it plans to continue to “vigorously defend” Trump’s executive order.
Over 150,000 newborn children would be denied citizenship annually if Trump’s order is allowed to stand, according to the Democratic-led states.
Since Trump signed the order, at least six lawsuits have been filed to challenge it, most of them by civil rights groups and Democratic attorneys general from 22 states.
Thirty-six of Trump’s Republican allies in the U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday individually introduced legislation to regulate automatic citizenship to only children born to American citizens or lawful permanent residents.
