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A federal judge has blocked Donald Trump’s order denying U.S. citizenship to children born in the country to illegal immigrants.
According to media reports, John Coughenour, a U.S. district judge presiding over the case in Washington state, called the measure “patently unconstitutional” on Thursday as he issued an injunction stopping the president’s action.
The decision follows a lawsuit filed Tuesday by four Democratic attorneys general led by Washington state – one of several legal challenges quickly mounted against the order Trump signed on Monday, just hours after he was sworn in as US president.
Other Democratic attorneys general and civil rights groups filed separate lawsuits this week to overturn the birthright ban, all alleging similar violations of the Fourteenth Amendment, which states that all “persons born or naturalized in the United States…” . are citizens of the United States.”
“If the unconstitutional and un-American order were allowed to stand, it would result in thousands of newborns and children in Washington losing their ability to participate fully and fairly in American society as citizens, even though the Constitution guarantees their citizenship,” the office said from Washington’s attorney general on Tuesday, who was joined by Oregon, Arizona and Illinois in the lawsuit.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
This is a developing story
