WASHINGTON (OSV News) — A federal judge on Jan. 23 temporarily blocked President Donald Trump’s executive order seeking to change the interpretation of the 14th Amendment, which grants birthright citizenship.
That order prompted a near-immediate legal challenge in a lawsuit filed by a coalition of advocacy groups led by the American Civil Liberties Union, as well as other challenges from some states and other advocacy groups. Catholic immigration advocates praised the challenge to that order, with some expressing concern about Trump’s immigration actions more broadly.
U.S. District Judge John C. Coughenour in Seattle, a Reagan appointee, called the order “blatantly unconstitutional” in response to a lawsuit from Washington, Arizona, Illinois and Oregon, blocking it from going into effect for at least 14 days.
“Frankly,” he said to Trump administration lawyers during a hearing, according to The New York Times, “I have difficulty understanding how a member of the bar would state unequivocally that this is a constitutional order. It just boggles my mind.”
Within hours of returning to the Oval Office at the start of his second, nonconsecutive term, Trump signed executive orders to implement some of his signature hardline immigration policies, including one seeking to end the practice of birthright citizenship.
The 14th Amendment states, “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,” but Trump told reporters in the Oval Office Jan. 20 “we’re the only country in the world that does this.”
However, the United States is one of at least 30 countries, including Canada and Mexico, in which the principle of “jus soli” or “right of soil” applies, which grants citizenship without restrictions, regardless of the immigration status of the parents. Most of those countries are located in the Americas, and scholars trace the origins of the practice to colonial times.
Trump’s order directed federal agencies to stop issuing passports, citizenship certificates and other official documents to children born in the U.S. to parents without legal status or temporary visa holders. The order would not apply retroactively, Trump said, and would be enforced in 30 days.
Trump’s order on birthright citizenship was among the executive orders on migration issues criticized by Bishop Mark J. Seitz of El Paso, Texas, chairman, U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Migration, who said in a Jan. 22 statement, “the proposed interpretation of the Fourteenth Amendment to limit birthright citizenship sets a dangerous precedent, contradicting the Supreme Court’s longstanding interpretation.”
“We urge President Trump to pivot from these enforcement-only policies to just and merciful solutions, working in good faith with members of Congress to achieve meaningful, bipartisan immigration reform that furthers the common good with an effective, orderly immigration system,” Bishop Seitz said. “My brother bishops and I will support this in any way we can, while continuing to accompany our immigrant brothers and sisters in accordance with the Gospel of Life.”
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