‘Clearly unconstitutional’: US judge temporarily blocks Trump’s birthright citizenship ban
The new decision to block President Donald Trump’s executive order banning birthright citizenship is a blow to the new Trump administration and comes after 22 US states and immigrant rights groups sued over it. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)
A federal judge in Seattle temporarily blocked the president on Thursday Donald Trump executive order barring birthright citizenship for children of illegal immigrants, describing the action as “patently unconstitutional.”
The decision by US District Judge John Coughenour, a Ronald Reagan appointee, comes in response to four US states – Arizona, Illinois, Oregon and Washington – suing to block Trump’s executive order, which Trump signed shortly after he was sworn in as president.
Coughenour said Thursday that he did executive order banning citizenship by birth “boggles the mind,” and told the court he could not recall seeing a case so “blatantly unconstitutional” in his more than 40 years on the dock.
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The 14-day restraining order approved by Coughenour will apply to the entire US
The ruling is a blow to the incoming Trump administration and comes after 22 US states and immigrant rights groups sued the Trump administration over the birthright citizenship ban, arguing in court filings that the executive order is both unconstitutional and “unprecedented.”
Trump’s ban is set to take effect on February 19, and will affect hundreds of thousands of children born in the US each year.
Trump’s order seeks to clarify the 14th Amendment, which states: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.”
Clarifies that those whose parents are illegal immigrants or those who were here legally but on temporary nonimmigrant visas are not citizens by birthright.
The US is one of about 30 countries that apply birthright citizenship.
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States that challenged the law argued that the 14th Amendment effectively guarantees citizenship to persons born on US soil and naturalized in the US
This is the latest news, more updates to come.
