On Wednesday, a federal judge in Maryland further blocked President Donald Trump’s executive order regarding birthright citizenship from reaching fruition.
The executive order titled “Protecting the meaning and value of American citizenship” ultimately removes automatic U.S. citizenship to children born to immigrants in the country illegally and temporary immigrants (like those here legally under a work or student visa).
U.S. District Judge Deborah Boardman issued a preliminary injunction Wednesday, indefinitely blocking the executive order.
“The denial of the precious right to citizenship will cause irreparable harm,” Boardman said, according to ABC News. “It has been said the right to U.S. citizenship is a right no less precious than life or liberty. If the court does not enjoin enforcement of the executive order, children subject to the order will be denied the rights and benefits of U.S. citizenship and their parents will face instability.”
Boardman, who was appointed to the bench by former President Joe Biden, said Trump’s executive order “conflicts with the plain language of the 14th Amendment,” ABC News added.
Not the first federal judge to take action against Trump’s order, Seattle, Washington-based U.S. District Judge John C. Coughenour previously blocked the order, calling it “blatantly unconstitutional” and issuing a 14-day restraint on it in a combined lawsuit with Washington, Arizona, Illinois and Oregon, per Axios.
Coughenour’s temporary block was set to expire this week.
Boardman’s ruling stemmed from a lawsuit filed in Maryland last month by two nonprofits and five pregnant immigrant women. The plaintiffs feared that their children’s right to citizenship would be revoked following Trump’s executive order issued on his first day in office.
The Maryland case is one of nine federal cases contesting Trump’s executive order.
In her ruling, Boardman said the order “conflicts with the plain language of the 14th Amendment, contradicts 125-year old binding Supreme Court precedent and runs counter to our nation’s 250-year history of citizenship by birth,” according to CNN.
“No court in the country has ever endorsed the president’s interpretation,” she added. “This court will not be the first.”
In response to the injunction, White House spokesman Kush Desai told The New York Times, “President Trump was given a resounding mandate to end the disregard and abuse of our immigration laws and to secure our borders,” he said. “The Trump administration will continue to put Americans and America first.”
States at crossroads over Trump’s order
Almost immediately after Trump’s order was announced, Washington, D.C., and San Francisco, along with 18 Democratic attorneys general, made conjoined efforts in a lawsuit filed in Massachusetts to block Trump’s executive order, arguing that “more than 125 years ago, the Supreme Court confirmed that this entitles a child born in the United States to noncitizen parents to automatic citizenship.
They also cited the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which 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,” proving his executive order as unconstitutional.
A hearing regarding the case is scheduled for Friday.
Despite the opposition, many states expressed support for Trump’s order.
Utah and 17 other states filed an amicus curiae brief on Monday supporting Trump and the other defendants in the lawsuit against the president’s executive order.
The brief accuses the Plaintiffs of having an “incorrect interpretation of the Citizenship Clause of the United States” that creates “a strong incentive for illegal immigration and birth tourism in the hope of providing children with citizenship. That increased illegal immigration has serious costs on the States.”
Utah Attorney General Derek Brown stated his support for President Trump’s executive actions regarding birthright citizenship.
“Birthright citizenship allows people to exploit American tax dollars and is inconsistent with sensible immigration policy, the views of almost half of all Americans, and the text of the Constitution. This legal issue is not settled under case law, and I support the President Trump’s efforts to resolve it,” he said in a statement shared with the Deseret News via email.
Trump’s order said it would “apply only to persons who are born within the United States after 30 days from the date of this order.” According to ABC News, Trump has promised to appeal any ruling that views his executive order as unconstitutional, and Boardman’s preliminary injunction could cause the president to appeal to a higher court.