A federal judge in Seattle on Thursday temporarily blocked President Donald Trump’s executive order banning birthright citizenship for children of illegal immigrants, describing the action as ‘blatantly unconstitutional.’
The decision by U.S. District Judge John Coughenour, a Ronald Reagan appointee, comes in response to four U.S. states — Arizona, Illinois, Oregon and Washington — who sued to block Trump’s executive order, which was signed by Trump shortly after being sworn in as president.
Coughenour said Thursday that the executive order banning birthright citizenship ‘boggles the mind,’ and told the court he could not remember in his more than 40 years on the bench seeing a case so ‘blatantly unconstitutional.’
The 14-day restraining order granted by Coughenour will apply to the entire U.S.
The ruling is a blow to the new Trump administration, and comes as 22 U.S. states and immigrants rights groups have sued the Trump administration over the ban on birthright citizenship, arguing in court filings that the executive order is both unconstitutional and ‘unprecedented.’
Trump’s ban is slated to come into force Feb. 19, and would impact the hundreds of thousands of children born in the U.S. annually.
Trump’s order seeks to clarify the 14th Amendment, which states: ‘All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.’
It clarifies that those born to illegal immigrant parents, or those who were here legally but on temporary nonimmigrant visas, are not citizens by birthright.
The U.S. is one of roughly 30 countries where birthright citizenship is applied.
States who have challenged the law have argued that the 14th Amendment does in fact guarantee citizenship to persons born on U.S. soil and naturalized in the U.S.
This is a breaking news story, more updates to come.