A US federal judge on Thursday temporarily blocked President Donald Trump’s executive order redefining birthright citizenship, calling it “clearly unconstitutional” during the first hearing in a multistate effort challenging the order. Said.
The temporary restraining order sought by Arizona, Illinois, Oregon and Washington was the first to be heard before a judge and applies nationally.
The case is one of five lawsuits being brought by 22 states across the country and several immigrant rights groups. The lawsuit includes personal testimony from the attorney general who is a U.S. citizen by birthright and the names of pregnant women who fear their children will not become U.S. citizens.
U.S. District Judge John Coughenour, appointed by Ronald Reagan, began the hearing by questioning administration lawyers and said the order was “mind-boggling.”
“This is a clearly unconstitutional order,” Coughnour told Justice Department lawyer Brett Shumate. Coughnour said he has been on the bench for more than four decades and can’t remember any other case where the challenged action was so clearly unconstitutional.
Shumate said he respectfully disagreed and asked for the opportunity to fully brief the judge on the merits of the case, rather than have the judge issue a 14-day restraining order to halt its implementation.
Trump’s executive order, which he signed on Inauguration Day, will take effect on Feb. 19. According to a lawsuit, it could affect millions of people born in the country. In 2022, about 255,000 citizen children were born to mothers living in the country illegally and about 153,000 children were born to two such parents, according to the four-state lawsuit filed in Seattle.
The Trump administration argued in papers filed Wednesday that the states do not have grounds to bring suit against the order and have not yet suffered any harm, so temporary relief is not sought. Administration lawyers also clarified that the executive order only applies to people born after Feb. 19, when it goes into effect.
The US is one of about 30 countries where the principle of birthright citizenship – jus soli or “right to the soil” – applies. Most are in the US; These also include Canada and Mexico.
The lawsuits argue that the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guarantees citizenship to people born and naturalized in the U.S., and that states have been interpreting the amendment for a century.
Ratified in 1868 after the Civil War, the amendment states: “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 emphasizes that children of non-citizens are not subject to the jurisdiction of the United States and orders federal agencies not to recognize citizenship for children whose parents have at least one Not a single citizen is less.
A major case involving birthright citizenship occurred in 1898. The Supreme Court held that Wong Kim Ark, who was born in San Francisco to Chinese immigrants, was a U.S. citizen because he was born in the country.
But some supporters of immigration restrictions have argued that the case clearly applies to children born to parents who were both legal immigrants. He says it’s less clear whether it applies to children born to parents living in the country illegally.
Trump’s order prompted the attorney general to share his personal ties to birthright citizenship. For example, Connecticut Attorney General William Tong, an American citizen by birthright and the country’s first Chinese American elected attorney general, said the lawsuit was personal to him.
Tong said this week, “There is no legitimate legal debate on this question. But the fact that Trump is absolutely wrong will not stop him from causing serious harm to American families like mine.”
One of the lawsuits aimed at blocking the executive order involves the case of a pregnant woman, identified only as “Carmen”, who is not a citizen but has been in the United States for more than 15 years. She is living in India and her visa application is pending, due to which she may suffer loss. For permanent residence status.
“To strip children of the ‘priceless treasure’ of citizenship is a grave injury,” the lawsuit says. “It deprives them of the full membership in American society to which they are entitled.”
That is so ridiculous. They are here illegally. They are breaking federal law by being here so birthright citizenship does not apply. Idiots. I’m not even a lawyer and I know that. Trump is 100% right to sign an executive order ending it.