Federal judge blocks Trump’s birthright citizenship order

A federal judge in Seattle issued a temporary restraining order Thursday to block the administration from carrying out President Trump’s plan to deny automatic citizenship to children of illegal immigrants.

District Judge John Coughenour called the president’s executive order an affront to the Constitution, local news media reported.

“I’ve been on the bench for over four decades. I can’t remember another case where the question presented is as clear as this one is. This is a blatantly unconstitutional order,” Judge Coughenour said, according to The Seattle Times.

The ruling is the first legal setback for Mr. Trump in his new term. At least for now, it shuts down one of his marquee policies from dozens of executive actions he has taken during his first days in office.

Mr. Trump also faces legal challenges over his end to Biden-era catch-and-release “parole” programs for illegal immigrants, his attempt to strip civil service protections from some federal employees and his creation of the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE.

Judge Coughenour’s restraining order suspends the president’s birthright citizenship policy for two weeks while the legal case develops.

He assailed the Justice Department for attempting to defend Mr. Trump’s policy.

“Frankly, I have difficulty understanding how a member of the bar could state unequivocally that this is a constitutional order,” the judge said. “It just boggles my mind.”

Mr. Trump’s order, signed on his first day in office, declares illegal immigrants and temporary visitors to be outside the jurisdiction of the government for purposes of the 14th Amendment, which otherwise extends automatic citizenship to children born on U.S. soil.

The amendment was adopted in the wake of the Civil War to overturn the Dred Scott decision and make clear that those who had been part of slavery had the full rights of citizenship.

Mr. Trump’s order has been challenged in courtrooms from Boston to Seattle, but Judge Coughenour was the first to act.

The 14th Amendment reads, in part: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States.”

The legal issue is who qualifies for the jurisdiction language.

In United States v. Wong Kim Ark, an 1898 case, the Supreme Court ruled that a child born to two Chinese migrant parents was entitled to automatic citizenship.

That ruling acknowledged three exceptions to the 14th Amendment: children born to diplomats, those born to mothers in an enemy army occupying U.S. territory, and children born on American Indian tribal lands, which at that time were considered outside U.S. jurisdiction because tribes have quasi-sovereignty.

Many legal scholars say the ruling closed the door on attempts to limit birthright citizenship and that a constitutional amendment would be required.

Others argue that Congress has enough room to act by law.

Mr. Trump said he concluded he could do it through an executive order.

“The Fourteenth Amendment has always excluded from birthright citizenship persons who were born in the United States but not subject to the jurisdiction thereof,” he said in his order, signed Monday.

Under his plan, children born on U.S. soil when neither parent is a citizen or legal permanent resident would not qualify for automatic citizenship. That would exclude children born to illegal immigrants and those on temporary visas, such as guest worker or student visas.

Mr. Trump ordered federal officers to refuse to issue or accept documents that would recognize citizenship in those cases.

Acting Assistant Attorney General Brett A. Shumate argued to Judge Coughenour, a Reagan appointee, that the case was premature because Mr. Trump’s order didn’t kick in for nearly four more weeks.

He also argued that the Constitution is less clear than the judge said. For one thing, he said, the 1898 court case involved two parents who were legal permanent residents of the U.S., although not citizens.

Mr. Shumate said an 1884 Supreme Court ruling involving a birth in an Indian tribe showed valid exceptions.

The challenge to Mr. Trump was led by the state of Washington and joined by three other Democratic-led states: Arizona, Illinois and Oregon.