The Department of Justice (DOJ) is appealing an order issued by a Seattle federal judge this week indefinitely blocking President Donald Trump’s attempt to end automatic birthright citizenship for children born to parents who are in the United States illegally.
It came just hours after U.S. District Judge John Coughenour handed down his decision and marked the first efforts by the Trump administration to take the issue to a higher court amid multiple legal challenges.
According to the order, the citizenship clause has “always excluded from birthright citizenship persons who were born in the United States but not ’subject to the jurisdiction thereof.'”
The phrase “subject to the jurisdiction thereof” in the clause excludes an individual if that person’s mother was unlawfully present in the country and the individual’s father was not a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident at the time of his or her birth, Trump’s order states.
The order further states that U.S. citizenship does not apply to an individual whose mother’s presence in the country was lawful but temporary at the time of their birth—such as those in the country on a Visa Waiver Program or visiting on a student or tourist visa—and whose father was neither a citizen nor a lawful permanent resident at the time of that individual’s birth.
They had argued that Trump went beyond his powers with the executive action and that the move would leave more than 150,000 babies born this year without citizenship because their parents are illegally in the country.
Second Judge Blocks Trump’s Order
He added that the government’s interpretation of the 14th Amendment’s citizenship clause contravenes longstanding precedent, pointing to a Supreme Court ruling from 1898 in the case United States v. Wong Kim Ark.In that case, the court held that the only children who did not automatically receive U.S. citizenship upon being born on U.S. soil were children of diplomats, who have allegiance to another government; enemies present in the U.S. during hostile occupation; those born on foreign ships; and those born to members of sovereign Native American tribes.
“Citizenship by birth is an unequivocal constitutional right,” the judge wrote. “It is one of the precious principles that makes the United States the great nation that it is. The president cannot change, limit or qualify this constitutional right via an executive order.”
In that case, plaintiffs claimed Trump’s order would unconstitutionally deny U.S. citizenship to their future children based on their parents’ immigration status.
“Today, virtually every baby born on U.S. soil is a U.S. citizen upon birth,” Judge Deborah Boardman said in a court hearing on the matter. “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 government does not appear to have appealed Boardman’s ruling as of yet.
In total, 22 states, as well as other organizations, have sued to try to stop Trump’s executive action on birthright citizenship.
