US judge blocks Trump’s order to limit birthright citizenship | News about Donald Trump
Trump’s order targets a constitutional right that automatically grants citizenship to anyone born in the country.
A federal judge has blocked President Donald Trump’s executive order citizenship by birtha constitutional right that automatically grants citizenship to anyone born in the United States.
District Court Judge John Coughenour issued a temporary restraining order Thursday in Seattle, Washington, preventing the government from implementing what he called a “manifestly unconstitutional” measure.
“I’ve been on the bench for more than four decades and I can’t think of another case where the question asked was this clear,” Coughenour said. “This is clearly an unconstitutional order. Where were the lawyers when this decision was made?”
Trump’s order has been viewed with concern by human rights groups who portray it as a fundamental attack on the concept of American citizenship.
The executive order threatened to affect not only children born in the US to undocumented parents, but also children of immigrants who are in the country legally.
Monday’s order, part of a series of measures signed by Trump limit immigrationit was quickly challenged in court.
As many as five lawsuits have been filed against Trump’s attack on birthright citizenship, and against officials from 22 states and several civil rights groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union.
Thursday’s temporary restraining order came as a result of an appeal filed by four Democratic-led states: Arizona, Illinois, Oregon and Washington. It was the first suit to reach the hearing stage.
“Under this order, babies born today do not count as US citizens,” Washington Assistant Attorney General Lane Polozola said at the start of the hearing.
For more than a century, the Supreme Court has also upheld the concept of birthright citizenship, pointing to the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution.
He says: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States.”
The Trump administration, however, claims that birthright citizenship encourages irregular migration to the US.
He also argued that the 14th Amendment should not have been applied to people whose parents were undocumented because they were not “under the jurisdiction” of the US.
Trump’s Justice Department described Monday’s executive order as “an integral part” of the government’s efforts to address the “ongoing crisis at the southern border.”
The order directs the Social Security Administration not to issue social security cards or numbers to children born after Feb. 19 if one of their parents is not a citizen or lawful permanent resident.
This in turn makes these children vulnerable to deportation. Without a social security card, an important identification document, children may also have problems accessing basic government services.
The USA is one of about 30 countries in the world with citizenship by birth. The 14th Amendment was implemented after the Civil War to extend citizenship to previously enslaved blacks.
