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A federal judge has blocked President Donald Trump’s executive order denying U.S. citizenship to children born in the country to illegal immigrants, dealing a blow to immigration enforcement, a top priority of his second term in office. Gave.
Washington state District Judge John Cogner on Thursday issued a temporary restraining order halting the president’s ban, calling the policy “patently unconstitutional,” according to media reports.
The decision stems from a lawsuit filed Tuesday by four leading Democratic state attorneys general in Washington state, which quickly challenged the order Trump signed on Monday, just hours after taking office. This is one of several legal challenges that have been filed.
Coughner’s decision marks the first legal setback for the Trump administration, just three days after returning to the White House. The wave of executive orders signed by the president, many focused on immigration issues, set off a fierce and lengthy legal battle.
Other Democratic state attorneys general and civil rights groups filed separate lawsuits this week seeking to invalidate the birthright ban, all similar to the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution, which states “all persons born or naturalized in the United States.” alleging violation. . . I’m a US citizen. ”
The Washington Attorney General’s Office said, “If this unconstitutional and un-American order is passed, thousands of newborns and children in Washington will be fully integrated into American society as citizens, despite constitutional guarantees.” “We would lose the ability to participate fairly.” About their citizenship. ”
Oregon, Arizona, and Illinois also joined the lawsuit.
President Trump’s order instead asserted that the 14th Amendment does not universally extend citizenship to all persons born in the United States.
The White House did not respond to requests for comment. Earlier this week, the administration announced it would fight the lawsuit in court, calling it part of a “leftist resistance.”
The Justice Department said in a Wednesday filing that the order is “an essential part of President Trump’s recent actions under significant immigration authority to address this nation’s broken immigration system and the ongoing crisis at our southern border.” “part”. .
