President Donald Trump by The White House / Flickr
A federal judge in Maryland issued a nationwide preliminary injunction late Aug. 7, blocking President Donald Trump’s executive order that ends automatic citizenship for children born in the US to non-citizens.
US District Judge Deborah L. Boardman, a Biden appointee, ruled the policy is “likely unconstitutional,” saying it conflicts with the Fourteenth Amendment and Supreme Court precedent. She found the plaintiffs would suffer irreparable harm without the injunction.
“Here, the Court finds that the only way to afford complete relief to the certified class is to enjoin enforcement of the Executive Order as to each member of the class,” Boardman wrote. “That relief must include every child in the United States who is subject to the Executive Order.”
Trump signed the order on his first day back in office in January. It bars automatic citizenship unless at least one parent is a US citizen or lawful permanent resident.
According to The Hill, Boardman is the fourth judge to freeze the policy since the Supreme Court’s June 27 decision that limited nationwide injunctions.
In that 6-3 ruling, the justices sided with Trump by reining in lower courts’ power to block presidential policies, CatholicVote reported. However, the court left the door open for such injunctions when needed to provide plaintiffs “complete relief” or in nationwide class actions.
Immigrant rights groups quickly acted on the ruling, filing two proposed class-action lawsuits that day, according to Reuters. One of them landed before Boardman, who had previously ruled in February that Trump’s order was likely unconstitutional.
