Trump Suffers Fresh Legal Setback as Judge Blocks Birthright Citizenship Order

President Donald Trump’s latest attempt to curb birthright citizenship has been blocked by a US federal judge, preventing his administration from enforcing a new executive order that sought to narrow eligibility for automatic US citizenship at birth.

US District Judge Deborah Boardman of Maryland issued a preliminary injunction on Wednesday after rights groups appealed against Trump’s August 6 executive order.

The order was aimed at what Trump called “birth tourism” and sought to restrict citizenship for certain children born in the United States.

Boardman’s decision marks another defeat for the president’s efforts to change birthright citizenship rules, following an earlier rejection of his position by the US Supreme Court.

“The Supreme Court has spoken: Children in the certified class are ‘citizens at birth’,” Boardman wrote in her 35-page ruling.

The judge also concluded that Trump’s August order “is almost certainly unconstitutional.”

The ruling was welcomed by immigrant rights organisations.

“When it comes to attacking birthright citizenship, the Trump administration has lost before this court, lost before the Supreme Court, and lost again today,” said Shana Khader, Legal Director at We Are CASA, a Maryland-based group.

Trump’s latest directive was designed to target people he accuses of entering the US on tourist grounds while allegedly intending to give birth in the country.

His first executive order on the matter stated that children born to parents who were either in the US illegally or staying on temporary visas would not automatically receive US citizenship.

However, lower courts blocked the policy, finding that the Citizenship Clause of the 14th Amendment protects citizenship for nearly everyone born on American soil. The Supreme Court agreed with that interpretation.

The latest court ruling comes amid Trump’s broader push to tighten immigration controls. His administration’s immigration agenda includes efforts to deport millions of undocumented migrants and end deportation protections for nationals from more than a dozen countries.

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