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A US federal judge has blocked the Trump administration from enforcing a new executive order seeking to restrict birthright citizenship, marking another legal setback for President Donald Trump’s efforts to change how citizenship is granted to children born in the United States.
US District Judge Deborah Boardman of Maryland issued a preliminary injunction on Wednesday after immigrant rights organisations challenged the order, which targeted what Trump described as “birth tourism” cases where he alleges people travel to the US with the intention of giving birth and securing citizenship for their children.
In her 35-page ruling, Boardman said the Supreme Court had already addressed the issue, writing that “children in the certified class are ‘citizens at birth’.” She added that Trump’s August 6 executive order was “almost certainly unconstitutional.”
The decision follows the US Supreme Court’s rejection of an earlier attempt by the administration to limit birthright citizenship. Lower courts had previously blocked Trump’s first order, ruling that the Citizenship Clause of the 14th Amendment protects citizenship rights for nearly everyone born on US soil.
Rights groups welcomed the ruling, calling it another defeat for the administration’s immigration policies.
“When it comes to attacking birthright citizenship, the Trump administration has lost before this court, lost before the Supreme Court, and lost again today,” said Shana Khader, Legal Director at We Are CASA, a Maryland-based immigrant rights organisation.
Trump’s executive order sought to deny automatic citizenship to children born in the US if their parents were undocumented migrants or held temporary visas. The administration argued the policy was necessary to address what it called abuses of the citizenship system.
The legal battle forms part of Trump’s wider immigration agenda, which includes efforts to deport millions of undocumented migrants and remove protections for nationals from several countries.
The latest court ruling means the administration’s attempt to redefine birthright citizenship remains blocked while legal challenges continue.
