Judge Halts Trump’s Birthright Citizenship Directive

Judicial Intervention in Trump’s Citizenship Initiative

A federal judge has issued a nationwide injunction against President Donald Trump’s executive order aimed at ending birthright citizenship. The order, signed at the start of Trump’s second term, sought to deny U.S. citizenship to children born to non-citizen or non-permanent resident parents, effective February 19, 2025.

U.S. District Judge Deborah Boardman ruled that the executive order likely violates the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which grants citizenship to all individuals born on U.S. soil. She emphasized that birthright citizenship is a long-standing tradition and legal principle in the United States.

This decision aligns with a previous temporary block by another federal judge in Seattle, who labeled the order as “blatantly unconstitutional.”

The legal challenges were brought forward by immigrant rights groups and several pregnant women, who argued that the executive order could unconstitutionally deny citizenship to their children based on their immigration status. Critics of the order contend that it could affect over 150,000 newborns annually.

The Justice Department has indicated plans to appeal the ruling, maintaining that the 14th Amendment has been historically misinterpreted. However, both Judge Boardman and other critics uphold that the amendment guarantees birthright citizenship regardless of parents’ immigration status.