Judge Issues Nationwide Injunction Blocking Trump Executive Order on Birthright Citizenship

WASHINGTON — A federal judge in Maryland Wednesday issued a nationwide injunction against President Donald Trump’s executive order that aims to limit the right to citizenship for children born in the United States, according to media reports.

Judge Deborah L. Boardman of the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, nominated by former President Joe Biden, heard the case brought by two nonprofits that represent immigrants and five pregnant women. They, along with their children’s fathers, are living in the United States without legal status.

“Today, virtually every baby born on U.S. soil is a U.S. citizen upon birth,” Boardman said, according to Reuters. “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 preliminary injunction is the second against the president’s executive order, after a Seattle, Washington, federal judge on Jan. 23 issued a 14-day injunction.

The executive order, which Trump signed on his first day in office, states that the federal government will not recognize or issue citizenship documentation to any child born after Feb. 19 to parents who are in the country without proper authorization, or if the parent is in the United States on a temporary visa and the other parent is a noncitizen or green card holder.

The Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection at Georgetown University Law Center represents the plaintiffs.

The complaint argued the Trump administration’s executive order “is a flagrant violation of the Fourteenth Amendment, a federal statute, and the history underlying the text of those enactments, all of which guarantee the fundamental right to citizenship for all children born in the United States.”

“The children deprived of citizenship have no status or right to remain in the United States with their family, even as their older siblings will often be United States citizens and as their parents will often be authorized to live in the United States,” according to the complaint. “Indeed, these children may not have access to citizenship in any country, leaving them stateless, living forever at the temporary sufferance of wherever they find themselves.”

The complaint also argued that the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the issue in a 1898 case, United States v. Wong Kim Ark.

The Trump administration’s Justice Department argued that the 1898 Supreme Court case is misinterpreted, because Wong Kim Ark’s parents were both in the country with legal status when he was born.

The Justice Department argued that birthright citizenship should be limited to parents with “permanent domicile and residence in the United States.”

“Illegal aliens are not permitted to be in the U.S. at all,” Justice Department attorney Eric Hamilton said, according to Reuters.

Last updated 4:29 p.m., Feb. 5, 2025

by Ariana Figueroa, Virginia Mercury

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