Judge Rejects Trump’s Request to Partially Enforce Birthright Citizenship Directive

February 19, 2025 TruthUSA

The Trump administration requested that the court ‘stay the nationwide application of the injunction,’ aiming to confine its implications solely to the plaintiffs involved in the lawsuit.

A federal judge in Maryland dismissed President Donald Trump’s motion on Tuesday for a partial stay of a preliminary injunction that halted an executive order concerning birthright citizenship.

The plaintiffs initiated a lawsuit against Trump and other U.S. officials on January 21, claiming that the executive order is unconstitutional, referencing Supreme Court decisions, historical context, and statutory protections.

U.S. District Judge Deborah Boardman issued a nationwide preliminary injunction on February 5 in response to the lawsuit brought forth by the immigrant advocacy organization CASA and the Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project (ASAP), alongside five expectant mothers whose children would be affected by the executive order. This injunction temporarily blocked the enforcement of the order that would eliminate birthright citizenship for children born to undocumented immigrants.

In a five-page order dated February 18, Boardman indicated that the defendants requested the court to “stay the nationwide application of the injunction,” thus restricting its scope to the plaintiffs and members of their organizations.

The judge denied this request, asserting that the nationwide injunction was essential to uphold “uniform and consistent” citizenship regulations across the nation.

“If the Court were to limit the injunction solely to the plaintiffs and their organizational members, individuals’ citizenship status during the course of this case would hinge on their parents’ decision to participate in this lawsuit or their parents’ affiliation with one of two voluntary, private organizations. That would be illogical,” the judge explained.

Judge Boardman also mentioned that the defendants sought the court’s permission to merely suspend the enforcement of the executive order while allowing its implementation so that the Trump administration could start internal preparations and develop relevant policies during the appeals process. The judge denied this motion as well.

Boardman indicated that the plaintiffs demonstrated “a considerable likelihood of success” regarding their assertion that the executive order breaches the 14th Amendment, which guarantees citizenship rights to anyone born in the United States.

The judge recognized the president’s power to issue executive orders but emphasized that this authority does not permit the ability “to modify the Constitution” or disregard “125 years of Supreme Court jurisprudence.”

The White House did not provide a comment prior to publication.

Trump’s order regarding birthright citizenship, issued on January 20, claimed that the citizenship clause of the 14th Amendment does not universally extend citizenship to all individuals born within the United States.

According to the executive order, this clause “has always excluded individuals born in the United States who were not ‘subject to the jurisdiction thereof’.”

The clause’s phrase “subject to the jurisdiction thereof” excludes an individual born to a mother who was unlawfully present in the country, as well as cases where the child’s father is neither a U.S. citizen nor a lawful permanent resident at the time of the child’s birth, as stated in the order.

Initially intended to take effect on February 19, the order faced legal challenges from several states. Eighteen states filed a lawsuit on February 22 contesting the order. Federal judges in New Hampshire, Washington, and Massachusetts also granted preliminary injunctions that prevented the federal government from denying birthright citizenship to the children of undocumented immigrants.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt stated last week that these injunctions are illegal and the administration will persist in contesting the cases.

“These unlawful injunctions represent an ongoing weaponization of justice against President Trump,” Leavitt asserted in an email statement to The Epoch Times on February 14. “The President has every right to exercise his executive authority on behalf of the American people, who entrusted him with a historic mandate on November 5.”

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