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HomeInternationalUS Judge Temporarily Blocks Trump's Executive Order To End Birthright Citizenship

US Judge Temporarily Blocks Trump’s Executive Order To End Birthright Citizenship

The federal judge on Thursday temporarily halted President Donald Trump’s executive order redefining birthright citizenship.

Report confirms that the court deemed it as “blatantly unconstitutional” during the initial hearing of a multi-state challenge against the order.

U.S. District Judge John Coughenour repeatedly questioned a Justice Department lawyer during arguments, pressing for an explanation of how the order could be considered constitutional.

“This is a blatantly unconstitutional order,” US District Judge John Coughenour was reported as saying during the hearing in Washington state.

“I’ve been on the bench for over four decades, I can’t remember another case where the question presented is as clear as this one is,” said Coughenour, who was appointed by a Republican president, Ronald Reagan.

When the attorney, Brett Shumate, requested an opportunity to elaborate in a formal briefing, Coughenour pointed out that the hearing was his opportunity to do so.

The ruling imposes a 14-day stay on the enforcement of one of the most controversial executive orders Trump signed in the hours after he was sworn into office for a second term.

The temporary restraining order, requested by Arizona, Illinois, Oregon, and Washington, was the first to be heard by a judge and has been applied on a national scale.

This case is one of five lawsuits filed by 22 states and various immigrant rights groups nationwide. The lawsuits include personal accounts from attorneys general who are U.S. citizens by birthright and highlight concerns from pregnant women fearing their children may be denied U.S. citizenship.

Representing the states, Washington Assistant Attorney General Lane Polozola dismissed as “absurd” the government’s claim that children of parents residing in the country illegally are not “subject to the jurisdiction” of the United States.

“Are they not subject to the decisions of the immigration courts?” he asked. “Must they not follow the law while they are here?”

US Judge Temporarily Blocks Trump's Executive Order To End birthright citizenship

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He argued that the restraining order was justified because the executive order would immediately force states to spend millions of dollars revamping healthcare and benefits systems to account for an applicant’s citizenship status.

According to Polozola, the executive order will impact hundreds of thousands of citizens nationwide who will lose their citizenship under this new rule.

“Births cannot be paused while the court considers this case,” he said.

Trump’s executive order, signed on Inauguration Day, is set to take effect on February 19, and it’s expected to impact hundreds of thousands of people born in the US.

This move could have significant repercussions, especially considering that in 2022, there were approximately 255,000 births to mothers living in the country without authorization, and around 153,000 births to parents who are both unauthorized immigrants, according to a four-state lawsuit filed in Seattle.

Following the halt, the US President Donald Trump on Thursday said his administration would appeal the federal judge’s ruling that temporarily blocks his attempt to restrict birthright citizenship.

“Obviously we will appeal it,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office when asked about the ruling by Washington state District Judge John Coughenour, who said the president’s order was “blatantly unconstitutional.”

Trump told reporters his administration would “obviously” appeal the ruling, while the Department of Justice said it would defend the executive order, which a spokesman said “correctly interprets” the US Constitution.

“We look forward to presenting a full merits argument to the Court and to the American people, who are desperate to see our Nation’s laws enforced,” the spokesman said.

Birthright citizenship is enshrined in the US Constitution under the 14th Amendment which decrees that anyone born on US soil is a citizen.

It says, in part: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.”

Trump’s order was premised on the idea that anyone in the US illegally, or on a visa, was not “subject to the jurisdiction” of the country, and therefore excluded from this category.

An incredulous Coughenour chided Justice Department attorney Brett Shumate over his assertion that Trump’s order was constitutional.

“Frankly, I have difficulty understanding how a member of the bar could state unequivocally that this is a constitutional order,” Coughenour said.

“It just boggles my mind.”

The court affirmed that children born in the United States, including those born to immigrants, could not be denied citizenship.

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