Trump birthright citizenship order blocked third time, in New Hampshire federal court
A third federal judge has blocked President Donald Trump’s order to stop providing citizenship to children born in the United States to parents without legal authorization.
U.S. District Judge Joseph Laplante issued the injunction Monday at the request of New Hampshire Indonesian Community Support. He said both sides argued their cases well, but that the Indonesian community was likely to win the case and would be harmed if the order weren't blocked now.
“Nobody threw me any curveballs this morning," Laplante said. "I’m not persuaded by the defendants’ arguments in this case."
Laplante’s order followed similar restrictions from judges in Maryland and Washington state. U.S. District Judge John Coughenour called the order “blatantly unconstitutional,” in a separate challenge in Seattle.
However, Trump has said he expects the Supreme Court to eventually side with him if the legal dispute gets that far. He has said he would appeal Coughenour’s order. His attorneys have yet to file a response to the New Hampshire decision but Laplante expects the case to be appealed eventually to the Supreme Court.
Trump’s birthright order was part of a series that sought to bolster security along the southern border. The order aimed to end automatic citizenship for U.S.-born children if neither parent is a U.S. citizen or a lawful permanent resident. He signed the order on his first day in office Jan. 20 and it was scheduled to go into effect after Feb. 19.
Legal experts said the order appears to conflict with the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, which states that “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.”
Cody Wofsy, an American Civil Liberties Union lawyer representing pregnant Indonesian nationals, called Trump’s order a radical interpretation of presidential power that would “rewrite the DNA of this country.”
Wofsy said children born to immigrants could be subject to arrest, detention and deportation for their lack of documentation even if the Supreme Court eventually upheld birthright citizenship. The Department of Homeland Security could maintain records of arrests and detention even if the children were confirmed as citizens, he said.
“This executive order is a fundamental attack on the Constitution and on the bedrock American value of birthright citizenship,” Wofsy said. “It threatens to strip thousands of U.S. born babies of both their equal membership in this society and to impose on them and their families a raft of extremely grave injuries.”
But Trump and his aides have argued the constitutional amendment was intended to help former slaves after the Civil War and wasn’t intended for the children of people who entered the country without proper authorization.
A Department of Justice lawyer who defended Trump’s order, Drew Ensign, argued that the Supreme Court already ruled that Native Americans didn’t have birthright citizenship because of their divided allegiance to the U.S. and their tribes, so the babies of foreign nationals shouldn’t receive it either.
“The executive order merely flags the Supreme Court’s own wording,” Ensign said.
States and advocacy groups for immigrants have filed at least eight lawsuits around the country challenging Trump’s order.