Just hours after being sworn in as 47th president of the United States, Donald Trump announced his plans to end birthright citizenship for the children of undocumented immigrants.
The federal court blocked the controversial new executive order earlier today (24 January), with a District Court Judge in Seattle issuing a brutal two-word response to Trump’s immigration plans.
Following his official inauguration on Monday (20 January), Trump has wasted no time in both rescinding 78 orders and actions signed by his Democrat predecessor Joe Biden, and introducing several policies of his own.
Among the most controversial pieces of legislation that the Republican leader has already signed is one order ruling that there are ‘only two genders’, and another revoking the 1965 Equal Employment Opportunity Act.
Trump, 78, also made his plans for immigration clear during his inauguration address, promising that ‘all illegal entry will be halted’ and that millions of ‘criminal aliens’ will be deported.
Since then, he also ruled that any child born in the US who doesn’t have at least one parent who’s a legal permanent resident are no longer automatically extended US citizenship.
The current legal principle in place grants citizenship to anyone born in the States, regardless of their parents’ citizenship – meaning everyone born on US soil immediately becomes a US citizen.
In a new update, however, an injunction has blocked the executive order.
Outlining the dangers of Trump’s plans, the Migration Policy Institute and Pennsylvania State University told press: “Ending birthright citizenship for US babies with two unauthorized immigrant parents would increase the existing unauthorized population by 4.7 million people by 2050.”
A District Court Judge in Seattle also described the potential alteration to birthright citizenship as ‘blatantly unconstitutional’, preventing it from going into full force without facing immediate legal challenges.
Right now, the citizenship is protected by the 14th Amendment, with the decree reading: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside.”
A department spokesperson has announced they look forward to ‘presenting a full merits argument to the Court and to the American people’.
In court on Wednesday (22 January), Justice Department lawyer Brett Shumate argued for the implementation of Trump’s policy, before Judge John Coughenour cut in, demanding: “Is this order constitutional?”
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Before the lawyer could respond, Coughenour then argued again: “This is a blatantly unconstitutional order.”
He went on to say: “We look back in history and say ‘Where were the judges, where were the lawyers?'”.
“Frankly I have difficulty finding that a member of the bar can state confidently that this is a constitutional order.
Trump’s administration has since declared they’ll ‘obviously’ ‘vigorously defend’ the latest ruling.
