On Wednesday, a federal judge in the United States halted a new executive order by President Donald Trump aimed at restricting birthright citizenship. This marks the second legal blow to Trump's efforts to amend one of the most prominent constitutional rights in the country.
U.S. District Judge Deborah Boardman of Maryland issued a preliminary injunction following a legal challenge by rights organizations against an executive order signed by Trump on August 6, which targeted what he termed 'birth tourism.'
In her 35-page ruling, Boardman stated, "The Supreme Court has spoken: children within the specified category are citizens from birth," adding that Trump's August order is "almost certainly unconstitutional."
The decision follows the U.S. Supreme Court's previous rejection of a Trump administration attempt to eliminate automatic citizenship for children born on U.S. soil to parents without legal residency or on temporary visas.
Trump's initial executive order stated that children born in the United States to parents residing illegally or with temporary visas would not automatically be granted U.S. citizenship. However, lower courts blocked the decision, citing the 14th Amendment's citizenship clause, which grants citizenship to nearly everyone born in the U.S., a stance supported by the Supreme Court.
Administration lawyers argued that the injunction request was premature and that federal agencies would implement the order based on official guidance yet to be issued. Judge Boardman dismissed this argument.
Boardman stated, "Regardless of what the guidance may say, Executive Order 2026 directs agencies to deny citizenship documents to a broad category of children."
Immigrant rights groups welcomed the ruling. Shana Khadir, legal director at Maryland-based We Are CASA, stated that the Trump administration lost in this court, lost at the Supreme Court, and lost again today on the issue of birthright citizenship.
Khadir added that the White House must understand that it cannot strip children of their right to citizenship, circumvent binding court decisions, or place the president's anti-immigration agenda above the Constitution.