Seattle:
A federal judge in Seattle on Thursday blocked President Donald Trump’s administration from enforcing an executive order restricting automatic birthright citizenship rights, saying it was “clearly unconstitutional.”
U.S. District Judge John Cogner, at the request of four Democratic-led states, issued a temporary restraining order blocking the administration from enforcing the order, which the Republican president signed on Monday, his first day in office.
“This is a clearly unconstitutional order,” the judge told a US Justice Department lawyer defending President Trump’s order.
The order is already the subject of five lawsuits by civil rights groups and Democratic attorneys general from 22 states, who argue it is a serious violation of the U.S. Constitution.
“Under this order, no baby born today will be counted as a U.S. citizen,” Washington Assistant Attorney General Lane Polozola told Senior U.S. District Judge John Coughner at the beginning of a hearing in Seattle.
Mr. Polozola is representing Democratic state attorneys general in Washington, Arizona, Illinois, and Oregon in a temporary They asked a judge to issue an injunction.
Challengers argue that President Trump’s actions violate the rights enshrined in the Citizenship Clause of the 14th Amendment, which states that anyone born in the United States is a citizen. There is.
In an executive order, President Trump directed U.S. authorities to deny citizenship to children born in the U.S. unless the mother or father is a U.S. citizen or legal permanent resident.
The U.S. Department of Justice said in a brief filed late Wednesday that the order is an “essential part” of the president’s efforts to “address this nation’s broken immigration system and the ongoing crisis at our southern border.” .
The lawsuit filed in Seattle is moving more quickly than the other four lawsuits filed under the executive order. The position was assigned to Cogner, who was appointed by former Republican President Ronald Reagan.
The justices could rule in court after hearing arguments, or they could wait to rule before Trump’s order takes effect.
According to the order, any child born after February 19 whose mother or father is not a citizen or lawful permanent resident will be subject to deportation, will be prevented from obtaining a Social Security number and various government benefits, and will be subject to deportation. As the number of cases increases, the ability to work legally becomes less and less possible. .
If President Trump’s order is left in place, more than 150,000 newborns will be stripped of their citizenship each year, according to Democratic-led states.
Democratic state attorneys general say their understanding of the Constitution’s citizenship clause is based on the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling 127 years ago that children born in the United States to noncitizen parents have the right to become U.S. citizens. He said that this helped him become established.
The Fourteenth Amendment was adopted in 1868 after the Civil War, overturning the infamous 1857 Supreme Court Dred Scott decision that declared the Constitution’s protections did not apply to enslaved black people.
But the Justice Department said in its brief that the 14th Amendment was never interpreted to universally extend citizenship rights to all persons born in the country, and the Supreme Court in United States v. Wong Kim Ark. argued that the 1898 decision concerned only the children of permanent residents.
The Justice Department said the lawsuit by the four states also “has passed multiple hurdles.” The department said only individuals, not states, can pursue claims under the Civil Rights Clause, and states do not have the necessary legal standing to sue over President Trump’s orders.
Thirty-six Republican allies of President Trump in the U.S. House of Representatives introduced separate bills Tuesday that would limit automatic citizenship to children born to citizens or lawful permanent residents.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
