By David Nakamura
and
Silvia Foster-Frau
A federal judge on Tuesday indefinitely blocked President Donald Trump’s effort to curb birthright citizenship for undocumented immigrants and temporary foreign visitors, a decision that is likely to mean the executive order will not take effect as planned later this month.
U.S. District Judge Deborah L. Boardman issued a preliminary injunction after a court hearing in Greenbelt, Maryland, in a lawsuit brought by civil rights groups aiming at stopping Trump’s order on the grounds that it violates the citizenship clause of the 14th Amendment.
The injunction applies nationally and will remain in place as the case is adjudicated. The Maryland lawsuit is one of at least six different federal cases brought against Trump’s order by a total of 22 Democratic-led states and more than half a dozen civil rights groups.
In issuing the injunction, Boardman said the plaintiffs would “very likely” succeed on the merits in their case against Trump’s order, which she said “conflicts with the plain language of the 14th Amendment.”
Boardman said Supreme Court precedent protects birthright citizenship.
“No court in the country has ever endorsed the president’s interpretation,” she said. “This court will not be the first.
The Trump administration is expected to appeal Broadman’s injunction, according to legal experts.
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The Washington Post analyzed more than 4.1 million U.S. immigration court records from the past decade to find out where migrants come from and where they live once they arrive in the country.
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Boardman’s ruling came nearly two weeks after a federal judge in Seattle, overseeing another case, called Trump’s order “blatantly unconstitutional” and issued a 14-day restraining order that prevented Trump’s administration from moving forward. Another hearing in that case, brought by a coalition of four states, is scheduled for Thursday.
Trump’s order directs federal agencies, including the State Department and Social Security Administration, not to issue citizenship documents to children born in the United States to undocumented immigrants and foreigners on temporary work, student and tourist visas. Federal agencies also would be barred from accepting citizenship documents issued by states for children who do not qualify under the order.
White House officials said the order was scheduled to take effect Feb. 19. Only children born after the directive is in place would be denied citizenship, the officials said. Some studies project that more than 150,000 people a year would fall into that category.
The lawsuit in Maryland was filed by two nonprofit civil rights groups, CASA and the Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project, on behalf of five pregnant women in the United States whose children would not be granted citizenship under Trump’s order.
The 14th Amendment, approved by Congress in 1868, provides automatic citizenship to those born on U.S. soil who are “subject to the jurisdiction” of the federal government, which has traditionally applied to nearly everyone other than the children of foreign diplomats.
White House aides said Trump’s order seeks to reinterpret the amendment because, they argue, immigrants in the country illegally and foreigners on temporary visas are not fully under the jurisdiction of the United States; therefore, their children should not be granted citizenship.
Most legal scholars reject such reasoning because immigrants and foreign visitors are subject to U.S. laws and can be arrested, jailed or deported.
In their complaint, the advocates for the pregnant women said Trump’s order is unconstitutional and would have the practical effect of denying their children their rights and thrust families like into chaos.
Trump’s order is “causing real-world confusion, fear, real-world harm, for countless people today,” Joseph Mead, an attorney for the plaintiffs, told Boardman at the hearing. “This executive order is such a departure from settled law. It’s so abrupt and such as departure from what we’ve been doing for over a century.”
He added that: “People covered by the executive order are parents, people who have lived here for years and decades and are not temporary visitors. They are people we work with, who own the houses down the street, who made America their home. They are entitled to have their children have the same constitutional right to citizenship as every other child born in United States has.”
Justice Department attorney Eric Hamilton told Boardman that the citizenship clause of the 14th Amendment had been misinterpreted and was being used as a loophole exploited by unauthorized immigrants and foreign visitors.
Boardman was appointed to the federal bench by then-President Joe Biden in 2021.
and
Silvia Foster-Frau
A federal judge on Tuesday indefinitely blocked President Donald Trump’s effort to curb birthright citizenship for undocumented immigrants and temporary foreign visitors, a decision that is likely to mean the executive order will not take effect as planned later this month.
U.S. District Judge Deborah L. Boardman issued a preliminary injunction after a court hearing in Greenbelt, Maryland, in a lawsuit brought by civil rights groups aiming at stopping Trump’s order on the grounds that it violates the citizenship clause of the 14th Amendment.
The injunction applies nationally and will remain in place as the case is adjudicated. The Maryland lawsuit is one of at least six different federal cases brought against Trump’s order by a total of 22 Democratic-led states and more than half a dozen civil rights groups.
In issuing the injunction, Boardman said the plaintiffs would “very likely” succeed on the merits in their case against Trump’s order, which she said “conflicts with the plain language of the 14th Amendment.”
Boardman said Supreme Court precedent protects birthright citizenship.
“No court in the country has ever endorsed the president’s interpretation,” she said. “This court will not be the first.
The Trump administration is expected to appeal Broadman’s injunction, according to legal experts.
Skip to end of carousel
4.1 million migrants
The Washington Post analyzed more than 4.1 million U.S. immigration court records from the past decade to find out where migrants come from and where they live once they arrive in the country.
End of carousel
Boardman’s ruling came nearly two weeks after a federal judge in Seattle, overseeing another case, called Trump’s order “blatantly unconstitutional” and issued a 14-day restraining order that prevented Trump’s administration from moving forward. Another hearing in that case, brought by a coalition of four states, is scheduled for Thursday.
Trump’s order directs federal agencies, including the State Department and Social Security Administration, not to issue citizenship documents to children born in the United States to undocumented immigrants and foreigners on temporary work, student and tourist visas. Federal agencies also would be barred from accepting citizenship documents issued by states for children who do not qualify under the order.
White House officials said the order was scheduled to take effect Feb. 19. Only children born after the directive is in place would be denied citizenship, the officials said. Some studies project that more than 150,000 people a year would fall into that category.
The lawsuit in Maryland was filed by two nonprofit civil rights groups, CASA and the Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project, on behalf of five pregnant women in the United States whose children would not be granted citizenship under Trump’s order.
The 14th Amendment, approved by Congress in 1868, provides automatic citizenship to those born on U.S. soil who are “subject to the jurisdiction” of the federal government, which has traditionally applied to nearly everyone other than the children of foreign diplomats.
White House aides said Trump’s order seeks to reinterpret the amendment because, they argue, immigrants in the country illegally and foreigners on temporary visas are not fully under the jurisdiction of the United States; therefore, their children should not be granted citizenship.
Most legal scholars reject such reasoning because immigrants and foreign visitors are subject to U.S. laws and can be arrested, jailed or deported.
In their complaint, the advocates for the pregnant women said Trump’s order is unconstitutional and would have the practical effect of denying their children their rights and thrust families like into chaos.
Trump’s order is “causing real-world confusion, fear, real-world harm, for countless people today,” Joseph Mead, an attorney for the plaintiffs, told Boardman at the hearing. “This executive order is such a departure from settled law. It’s so abrupt and such as departure from what we’ve been doing for over a century.”
He added that: “People covered by the executive order are parents, people who have lived here for years and decades and are not temporary visitors. They are people we work with, who own the houses down the street, who made America their home. They are entitled to have their children have the same constitutional right to citizenship as every other child born in United States has.”
Justice Department attorney Eric Hamilton told Boardman that the citizenship clause of the 14th Amendment had been misinterpreted and was being used as a loophole exploited by unauthorized immigrants and foreign visitors.
Boardman was appointed to the federal bench by then-President Joe Biden in 2021.
