A federal judge has temporarily blocked President Donald Trump's executive order that aimed to limit birthright citizenship, deeming it "almost certainly unconstitutional." U.S. District Judge Deborah Boardman issued a preliminary injunction against the Aug. 6 order, which sought to restrict citizenship for children whose parents are considered alien enemies or who paid for surrogacy services in the U.S. The ruling sets the stage for further legal challenges regarding the scope of the Fourteenth Amendment.
Boardman's 35-page ruling stated that the executive order is "almost certainly unconstitutional as applied to the certified class for the simple reason that the Supreme Court in Barbara already decided that the children in the class are citizens at birth." This injunction marks the first halt to Trump's revised birthright citizenship order following the Supreme Court's affirmation of birthright citizenship.
The White House responded by calling Boardman an "activist judge appointed by Biden attempting to thwart President Trump’s commonsense agenda." A White House spokeswoman asserted that the birthright citizenship executive order "is consistent with the holdings and analysis set forth by the Supreme Court."
The Supreme Court previously affirmed birthright citizenship in a 5-4 decision in Barbara v. Trump, holding that children born in the United States to parents who are unlawfully or temporarily present in the country are citizens at birth under the Fourteenth Amendment. However, the court acknowledged exceptions, such as children of foreign diplomats or those born during a hostile occupation of U.S. soil.
Judge Boardman rejected Trump's executive order targeting children of alleged alien enemies, agreeing with plaintiffs' concerns about the administration's "broad view of who qualifies as an enemy." The plaintiffs argued that the administration sometimes bases conclusions on "false or speculative allegations, or even tenuous markers like tattoos or family affiliations." Boardman pointed to specific plaintiffs, including one who fled an area with cartel activity and another Venezuelan woman who fears her family could be wrongly linked to a criminal organization. The judge wrote that children whose parents "may 'rightly or wrongfully' be deemed by the government to be alien enemies face a credible threat of 'being denied or stripped of their birthright citizenship... even though they do not fall within a recognized exception to birthright citizenship.'"
Abhi Kambli, a former Justice Department official, suggested Boardman was speculating on potential misapplications of the executive order, noting that a facial challenge requires demonstrating unlawfulness in all applications, not just borderline cases. He indicated the judge may have accepted the plaintiffs' speculation that the administration "might get it wrong this time, and then that'll affect their kids."
Boardman found that denying citizenship under the new order would cause irreparable harm, a necessary condition for issuing a preliminary injunction. The ruling stated that "The loss of birthright citizenship—even if temporary and later restored at the conclusion of litigation has cascading effects’ that will ‘very likely leave permanent scars’ on the child and their family."
Plaintiff Monica expressed relief, stating, "For now, my child and children like mine are protected and guaranteed U.S. citizenship. But I know this isn’t over. The threat to birthright citizenship is still out there." We Are CASA, an organization representing plaintiffs, celebrated the injunction, with Legal Director Shana Khader stating, "When it comes to attacking birthright citizenship, the Trump administration has lost before this court, lost before the Supreme Court, and lost again today."