A Seattle state judge has temporarily halted an official order by President Donald Trump to curtail the citizenship of those who are inheriting the United States. The order came Thursday after local US judge John Kuffner approved a temporary restraining order allowing the process to end for 14 days while the court considers a preliminary injunction.
The order, which Trump imposed on his first day in office, directs government agencies to deny citizenship to children born in the US if one parent is not a citizen or lawful permanent resident. The order is the first major legal failure of Trump’s new attempt to rethink US citizenship laws.
‘Clearly unconstitutional’, judge says
Judge Kuffner, appointed by Republican former President Ronald Reagan, unabashedly called the official order “clearly unconstitutional” during the hearing. Reacting to the Justice Department’s defense of the mandate, the judge expressed skepticism that any legal expert could accept the arrangement as intrinsically sound. “I’m having trouble understanding how a portion of the bar can categorically say that this arrangement is constitutional,” Coughenour told Brett Shumate, a Justice Office lawyer defending the administration’s position. “It boggles my mind.” The administration’s move came after four Democratic-led states — Washington, Arizona, Illinois and Oregon — filed a lawsuit arguing that the arrangement abused the Citizenship Clause of the 14th Amendment, which guarantees citizenship to anyone born on U.S. soil, regardless of their parents’ immigration status. Legal Battle Over 14th Amendment The discussion over will citizenship has centered on the 14th Amendment, which was adopted in 1868 after the Civil War and guarantees citizenship to everyone born in the United States. The change was a response to the 1857 Dred Scott decision, which denied citizenship to oppressed Black individuals and their relatives. Since then, the Citizenship Clause has been understood to include all children born in the U.S., even to non-citizen parents.
The incomparable Court made it clear 127 years ago in United States v. Wong Kim Ark that children born in the U.S. to non-citizen parents are entitled to citizenship. Trump’s official arrangement seeks to eliminate this long-established reference point, a move that legal researchers say is likely to face serious legal scrutiny.
At the hearing, Washington’s right-hand Attorney General Pat Polozola emphasized the immediate impact of the arrangement, warning that under Trump’s arrangement, “children born today are not recognized as U.S. citizens.” Polozola and other state officials argued that the system would strip more than 150,000 newborns of essential rights each year, leaving them without Social Security numbers, government benefits or legitimate job opportunities when they grow up.
Trump offers to end citizenship claims
Trump has long sought to end legacy citizenship, a system that has been a driving force in his movement since his first presidential campaign in 2016. During his previous term, Trump floated the idea of ending legacy citizenship through official activity, but the proposal was never formalized. His most recent official system represents a new and more forceful effort to rethink the parameters of U.S. citizenship.
The organization argues that legacy citizenship encourages illegal migration and puts a strain on public resources. Defending the system, the Justice Office called it an “essential part” of Trump’s efforts to transform the U.S. immigration infrastructure and address the emergency at the southern border. Justice Department lawyer Shumate called the plan “extremely inappropriate” and said the formal plan was a necessary step to fix the organization’s damaged immigration infrastructure.
