By Benson Daniel
A US federal judge has blocked President Donald Trump’s latest attempt to restrict birthright citizenship, delivering another legal setback to the administration’s efforts to change the rules governing citizenship for children born in the country.
US District Judge Deborah Boardman in Maryland issued a preliminary injunction preventing the Trump administration from enforcing its latest executive order while a class action lawsuit brought by immigrant families and advocacy groups proceeds.
The ruling came weeks after Trump signed a narrower executive order targeting what his administration describes as “birth tourism” and other circumstances in which children born in the United States could be denied automatic citizenship.
The latest order followed a major Supreme Court ruling in June that rejected Trump’s earlier and broader attempt to end birthright citizenship for children whose parents were not US citizens or permanent residents.
The Supreme Court held that the earlier policy could not be enforced against the children covered by the case, reinforcing the constitutional protections contained in the 14th Amendment.
Trump responded with a new order on August 6 that focused on specific categories of children. The measure sought to restrict citizenship for children whose parents were classified as “alien enemies”, certain foreign government employees or people accused of using commercial arrangements to obtain birthright citizenship.
It also targeted so called birth tourism, referring to cases where people travel to the United States on temporary visas with the intention of giving birth so their children can obtain US citizenship.
Immigrant rights groups challenged the new order, arguing that it remained unconstitutional and could affect children whose citizenship rights had already been recognised under existing law.
Boardman agreed to block enforcement, pointing to the Supreme Court’s earlier decision and saying the latest order was almost certainly unconstitutional as applied to the class of children involved in the lawsuit.
The judge also rejected the administration’s argument that the legal challenge was premature because federal agencies had not yet issued detailed guidance explaining how the new order would be implemented.
According to the ruling, the executive order itself contained language broad enough to require agencies to deny citizenship documents to certain categories of children. Boardman therefore concluded that court intervention was necessary before the government could begin enforcing the measure.
The injunction prevents agencies including the State Department, Department of Homeland Security and Social Security Administration from taking steps to deny, interfere with or fail to recognise the citizenship of children covered by the lawsuit.
However, the administration is still permitted to prepare guidance explaining how it intended to implement the executive order.
The ruling represents the latest chapter in a legal battle that has placed one of the most established principles of US immigration law at the centre of a political fight.
Birthright citizenship has its constitutional foundation in the 14th Amendment, ratified in 1868. It generally provides citizenship to people born on US soil, subject to limited exceptions.
Trump has repeatedly argued that the system has been abused by undocumented immigrants and people who travel to the United States specifically to give birth. His administration has made restricting birthright citizenship a major part of its wider immigration agenda.
Opponents argue that the president cannot override constitutional protections through an executive order and have warned that attempts to narrow birthright citizenship could create uncertainty for thousands of families.
The latest ruling is likely to prolong the legal confrontation. With the Supreme Court having already rejected Trump’s earlier effort, the administration now faces another court order preventing enforcement of a revised version of the policy.
For immigrant families, the decision temporarily removes the immediate threat of citizenship being denied under the new order. For the Trump administration, however, it represents another obstacle to one of its central immigration policy objectives.
The wider dispute is expected to continue through the courts as both sides fight over the scope of presidential authority and the constitutional meaning of citizenship at birth.
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