A Maryland judge has blocked Trump’s order restricting birthright citizenship, issuing a nationwide injunction.
A federal judge in Maryland on Wednesday became the second judge in the country to halt the implementation of President Donald Trump’s executive order restricting birthright citizenship in the United States.
Judge Deborah Boardman of the U.S. District Court in Maryland on Feb. 5 ruled in favor of two immigrant rights organizations and five pregnant women who argued that Trump’s order would unconstitutionally deny U.S. citizenship to their future children based on their parents’ immigration status.
Boardman issued a nationwide preliminary injunction, preventing the order from taking effect as scheduled on Feb. 19.
“Today, virtually every baby born on U.S. soil is a U.S. citizen upon birth,” Boardman said during a Feb. 5 court hearing. “That is the law and tradition of our country. That law and tradition are and will remain the status quo pending the resolution of this case.”
The Epoch Times has reached out to Department of Justice (DOJ) counsel representing the Trump administration in the case with a request for comment.
Boardman’s ruling grants longer-term relief to opponents of Trump’s policy, superseding a 14-day hold issued on Jan. 23 by Seattle-based Judge John Coughenour.
Coughenour previously called Trump’s order “blatantly unconstitutional” and is scheduled to decide Thursday on whether to extend his block with a preliminary injunction pending the case’s resolution.
Trump’s order, issued shortly after he assumed office on Jan. 20, claims that the 14th Amendment’s citizenship clause does not universally grant citizenship to everyone born in the United States.
In particular, it argues that the phrase “subject to the jurisdiction thereof” in the citizenship clause excludes children of illegal immigrants and other noncitizens from automatic U.S. citizenship.
The lawsuit in Maryland is one of a number of legal challenges, with at least eight cases filed nationwide by Democratic state officials, immigrant rights organizations, and pregnant women seeking to overturn the policy.
This is a breaking story and will be updated.
By Tom Ozimek
