US judge blocks Trump’s order restricting birthright citizenship

Trump’s bid targets a law close automatically granting citizenship to anyone calved successful the country.

A national justice has blocked President Donald Trump’s enforcement bid curtailing birthright citizenship, a constitutionally enshrined close granting automatic citizenship to anyone calved successful the United States.

District Court Judge John Coughenour issued the impermanent restraining bid connected Thursday successful Seattle, Washington, preventing the authorities from implementing what helium called a “blatantly unconstitutional” measure.

“I’ve been connected the seat for implicit 4 decades, and I can’t retrieve different lawsuit wherever the question presented was this clear,” Coughenour said. “This is simply a blatantly unconstitutional order. Where were the lawyers erstwhile this determination was being made?”

Trump’s bid has been viewed with alarm by rights groups that picture it arsenic a cardinal battle connected the conception of US citizenship.

The enforcement bid threatened to impact not conscionable children calved successful the US to undocumented parents but besides children of immigrants legally successful the country.

Monday’s order, portion of a flurry of measures that Trump signed to restrict immigration, was rapidly challenged successful court.

As galore arsenic 5 lawsuits person been filed against Trump’s onslaught connected birthright citizenship, encompassing officials from 22 states and respective civilian rights groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union.

Thursday’s impermanent restraining bid came arsenic the effect of a ailment filed by 4 Democrat-led states: Arizona, Illinois, Oregon and Washington. It was the archetypal of the suits to scope the proceeding stage.

“Under this order, babies being calved contiguous don’t number arsenic US citizens,” Washington Assistant Attorney General Lane Polozola argued astatine the commencement of the hearing.

For much than a century, the Supreme Court has besides upheld the conception of birthright citizenship, pointing to the 14th Amendment of the US Constitution.

It states: “All persons calved oregon naturalized successful the United States, and taxable to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States.”

The Trump administration, however, has maintained that birthright citizenship encourages irregular migration into the US.

It besides has argued that the 14th Amendment was not meant to use to radical with undocumented parents due to the fact that they are not “subject to the jurisdiction” of the US.

Trump’s Department of Justice described Monday’s enforcement bid arsenic an “integral part” of the government’s efforts to code the “ongoing situation astatine the confederate border”.

The bid instructs the Social Security Administration to not contented Social Security cards oregon numbers to children calved aft February 19 if either of their parents are not citizens oregon ineligible imperishable residents.

That, successful turn, makes those children susceptible to deportation. Without a Social Security card, an important recognition document, the children whitethorn besides conflict to entree basal authorities services.

The US is 1 of astir 30 countries successful the satellite with birthright citizenship. The 14th Amendment was implemented aft the Civil War to widen citizenship to Black radical who had antecedently been enslaved.

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Al Jazeera and quality agencies