A fourth federal judge, this one in Boston, has issued an injunction blocking President Trump’s executive order seeking to end birthright citizenship for the children of undocumented immigrants.
Federal judges in Maryland, Washington State and New Hampshire have already issued similar injunctions to stop the executive order from being enacted. The order instructs the government to stop recognizing as citizens any children who are born on U.S. soil to undocumented parents, or to noncitizen parents who are in the country legally but temporarily.
A hearing on two related lawsuits was held in U.S. District Court in Boston last week before Judge Leo T. Sorokin, who was appointed by President Barack Obama. Judge Sorokin granted the injunction on Thursday; it is effective immediately, and nationwide in scope.
“First, allegiance in the United States arises from the fact of birth,” Judge Sorokin wrote in his decision. “It does not depend on the status of a child’s parents, nor must it be exclusive, as the defendants contend. Applying the defendants’ view of allegiance would mean children of dual citizens and lawful permanent residents would not be birthright citizens — a result even the defendants do not support.”
One of the lawsuits filed in Boston was brought by 18 states, the District of Columbia and the City of San Francisco. The other was filed on behalf of an expectant mother by Lawyers for Civil Rights, a legal activist group based in Boston.
The Trump administration’s crackdown on both legal and illegal immigration has prompted at least 10 lawsuits, with seven of them challenging the executive order on birthright citizenship.
The order, among the first issued by President Trump after he took office last month, would have affected children born after Feb. 19 in the United States to undocumented parents.
Mirian Albert, senior attorney for Lawyers for Civil Rights, said in a statement that the ruling on Thursday provided “protection for vulnerable communities and restores a sense of order and justice.”
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