A federal judge has issued a ruling that prevents President Trump’s controversial executive order, which sought to terminate the practice of birthright citizenship for children born in the United States to non-citizen parents.
The judge criticized the order as “blatantly unconstitutional,” emphasizing that the Constitution guarantees citizenship to anyone born on U.S. soil.
Judge John Coughenour, who was appointed by Ronald Reagan and serves on the bench in Seattle, has granted the urgent request from Washington Attorney General Nick Brown, along with officials from three other states led by Democratic administrations.
This emergency order temporarily pauses the implementation of the contested policy for a period of 14 days.
Trump’s instructions would stop the granting of automatic citizenship for children born in the U.S. to mothers who are not legally in the country, unless their father was a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident, according to a report by Time magazine.
It would also deny citizenship from children of mothers who are temporarily in the country on a work visa, student visa or tourist visa, and whose fathers aren’t citizens or permanent residents.
The decision comes as part of an ongoing legal challenge, allowing time for additional briefings and arguments to be presented before the court regarding the policy in question.
The order has already become the subject of five lawsuits by civil rights groups and Democratic attorneys general from 22 states, who call it a flagrant violation of the US constitution.
“Under this order, babies being born today don’t count as US citizens,” the Washington assistant attorney general Lane Polozola told Judge John Coughenour at the start of a hearing in Seattle.
