
A federal judge in United States’ Seattle on Thursday (23 January) blocked the Trump administration’s executive order aimed at restricting automatic birthright citizenship in the United States, calling it “blatantly unconstitutional.”
US District Judge John Coughenour, responding to a request from four Democratic-led states, issued a temporary restraining order to block the enforcement of the executive order.
President Trump had signed the order on Monday (20 January), his first day in office.
“This is blatantly unconstitutional order,” the judge told a lawyer with the US Justice Department defending Trump’s order.
Civil rights groups and Democratic attorneys general from 22 states have filed five lawsuits against the order, labeling it a blatant violation of the U.S. Constitution.
“Under this order, babies being born today don’t count as U.S. citizens,” Washington Assistant Attorney General Lane Polozola told Senior US District Judge John Coughenour at the start of a hearing in Seattle.
Polozola – on behalf of Democratic state attorneys general from Washington state, Arizona, Illinois and Oregon – urged the judge to issue a temporary restraining order to prevent the administration from carrying out this key element of Trump’s immigration crackdown.
The challengers argue that the executive action violates the 14th Amendment’s citizenship clause, which guarantees citizenship to anyone born in the United States.
Trump’s executive order instructs US agencies to deny citizenship to children born in the United States if neither parent is a US citizen or legal permanent resident.
The US Justice Department, in a brief filed late Wednesday, described the order as an “integral part” of President Trump’s strategy to reform the country’s “broken immigration system” and address the “ongoing crisis at the southern border.”
The Seattle lawsuit has advanced more rapidly than the four other cases filed against the executive order.
It is being presided over by Judge Coughenour, who was appointed by former Republican President Ronald Reagan.
The judge may issue an immediate ruling from the bench following the arguments or opt to deliver a written decision before Trump’s order takes effect.
Under the order, any children born after Feb. 19 whose mothers or fathers are not citizens or lawful permanent residents would be subject to deportation and would be prevented from obtaining Social Security numbers, various government benefits and the ability as they get older to work lawfully.
Democratic-led states estimate that Trump’s order, if upheld, would deny citizenship to over 150,000 newborns annually.