Federal judge blocks Trump’s executive order to end birthright citizenship

A federal judge issued a temporary restraining order blocking President Donald Trump’s executive order ending birthright citizenship. On Thursday, Judge John Coughenour granted the request petitioned by Washington State Attorney General Nick Brown and the states of Arizona, Illinois, and Oregon. 

The order indicates that if this executive action takes place, it could cause irreparable injury by forcing state agencies to lose federal funding. Such funding is allocated to medical health and basic public benefits to end child poverty and well-being, impacting their education, employment and health.

Immigration Attorney Alma Rosa Nieto explained that the national injunction is considered unconstitutional. The injunction halts President Trump’s executive order for 14 days. After that, there will be hearings. 

She said for now anyone having children shouldn’t be worried.  “Children born in the country will still have U.S. Citizenship,” Nieto said. 

More lawsuits against the order

Before this action, more than 20 states, including California, cities and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) had already sued over the president’s order. 

Cody Wofsy, deputy director of ACLU Immigrant Rights Project, said via Facebook that the ACLU is suing the Trump administration because the order blatantly violates the 14th Amendment.

“Birthright citizenship is absolutely central to who we are as a country, and denying the citizenship of babies who are born in this country is both illegal and profoundly cruel,” he said.

The 14th Amendment states that all persons born or naturalized in the country are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No state can enforce a law to truncate the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta said the executive order is not only unconstitutional but also un-American.

"As home to Wong Kim Ark, a Chinese-American man who fought to have his citizenship recognized, California condemns the President’s attempts to erase history and ignore 125 years of Supreme Court precedent,” Bonta said in a statement.

He explained that the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed this constitutional right in 1898 when the San Francisco-born Ark was denied entry back into the United States after visiting relatives in China on the grounds that he was not a citizen. 

In United States v. Wong Kim Ark, the Supreme Court established that children born in the United States, including those born to immigrants, could not be denied citizenship. 

“We are asking a court to immediately block this order from taking effect and ensure that the rights of American-born children impacted by this order remain in effect while litigation proceeds,” said Bonta. “The President has overstepped his authority by a mile with this order, and we will hold him accountable.” 

Bonta was joined by attorneys general of New Jersey, Massachusetts, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Vermont and Wisconsin, along with the City of San Francisco.