US federal judge blocks Trump’s newest executive order on birthright citizenship

In a latest update a U.S. federal judge has blocked President Donald Trump's latest executive order attempting to limit birthright citizenship

As reported by Reuters, U.S. District Judge Deborah Boardman in Maryland issued a preliminary injunction halting the administration from enforcing the new directive.

The order bars major federal bodies including the State Department, Department of Homeland Security, and Social Security Administration from interfering with or denying citizenship to children covered by the lawsuit's certified class.

This follows a previous Supreme Court ruling (Barbara v. Trump) that struck down an initial, broader executive order from the administration attempting to end birthright citizenship for children of non-citizens and non-green card holders.

Following that legal defeat, the administration issued a narrower directive targeting categories like "birth tourism," children of foreign government workers in the U.S., and individuals classified as "alien enemies".

Judge Boardman ruled that the new 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" emphasizing that the Supreme Court has already established that these children are citizens at birth under the 14th Amendment.

The plaintiffs included the immigrant rights groups CASA and Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project, which last year convinced Boardman to become one of four lower-court judges to block Trump's initial order prior to the Supreme Court ruling.

Conchita Cruz, co-executive director of the Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project, said in a statement, “Immigrant families should not have to come back to court to defend the rights of their U.S.-born children and others whose citizenship is being questioned by a new executive order."