WASHINGTON: A US federal judge has temporarily blocked President Donald Trump’s latest attempt to restrict birthright citizenship, dealing another setback to the administration’s efforts to change the longstanding principle that most children born on US soil are entitled to American citizenship.
The ruling comes less than a month after the Trump administration issued a new executive order seeking to narrow the circumstances in which children born in the United States would automatically receive citizenship.
The latest order, signed on August 6, followed a US Supreme Court ruling in late June that rejected the administration’s earlier sweeping attempt to deny birthright citizenship to certain children of undocumented immigrants and temporary visitors.
US District Judge Deborah Boardman ruled on Thursday that the Supreme Court had already resolved key legal questions surrounding the administration’s earlier citizenship policy.
In a 35-page opinion, Judge Boardman said the president could not use a new executive order to overturn protections established by the Supreme Court.
She also warned that the latest order could potentially affect children whose citizenship rights had already been protected by the court, including cases in which the administration might designate their parents as “alien enemies”.
“The Supreme Court has spoken,” Judge Boardman said in her ruling, stressing that children covered by the court’s previous decision were citizens from birth and that the president was required to follow the law.
New Restrictions Broaden Scope
Trump’s latest executive order sought to go beyond his earlier attempt to restrict birthright citizenship. The order targeted children born to certain foreign nationals, including some employees of foreign embassies and international organisations such as the United Nations and the World Bank.
It also sought to exclude children whose parents were classified by the administration as “alien enemies” or whose mothers were deemed to have entered the United States through arrangements intended specifically to give birth there.
The administration has not yet issued detailed guidelines explaining how the new restrictions would be implemented. That has raised questions over how authorities would distinguish between ordinary visitors who happen to give birth in the United States and people accused of deliberately travelling to the country for that purpose.
Groups Challenge Order
The latest legal challenge was brought by Casa and the Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project (ASAP), along with individuals who could potentially be affected by the executive order. Conchita Cruz, a co-founder of ASAP, criticised the administration for reviving an issue that she said had already been addressed by the Supreme Court.
She argued that immigrant families should not be forced to return to court repeatedly to defend citizenship rights that had already been recognised by the country’s highest court.
Some women who were involved in the earlier legal challenge had given birth while the Supreme Court was considering the administration’s original policy. According to the advocacy group, those families have now been placed under renewed uncertainty.
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One Venezuelan asylum seeker who was among the earlier plaintiffs had previously expressed relief after the Supreme Court ruling confirmed that her newborn son was entitled to US citizenship.
Following the latest court action, however, she said the threat to birthright citizenship remained and vowed to continue seeking permanent protection for her child and other children born in the United States.
Supreme Court Ruling
The latest dispute stems from Trump’s original executive order attempting to end automatic citizenship for certain children born in the United States. That policy was challenged in federal courts before reaching the Supreme Court.
The high court’s June ruling rejected the administration’s broad approach, limiting the government’s ability to implement the earlier order and reinforcing the legal protections applicable to children covered by the litigation.
Judge Boardman’s latest ruling suggests that the administration cannot simply use a revised executive order to circumvent the Supreme Court’s decision. The case is likely to remain part of the broader legal and political battle over immigration policy during Trump’s second term.
Birthright citizenship has long been rooted in US constitutional law, particularly the 14th Amendment, which provides citizenship to people born or naturalised in the United States and subject to its jurisdiction.
Trump has repeatedly argued that the principle has been abused and has sought to impose tighter restrictions on who qualifies for citizenship at birth. The latest ruling means that, for now, the administration’s newest attempt to alter those rules has been put on hold while the legal battle continues.
