Athira Sethu
Kochi, 6 Feb 2025
A federal judge put a temporary hold on President Donald Trump’s executive order meant to end birthright citizenship for U.S.-born children of immigrants in the country illegally. US District Judge Deborah Boardman called citizenship “a precious right,” saying no court has accepted the reading of the 14th Amendment by the Trump administration.
Boardman declared that citizenship is a “national concern” and requires uniform policies throughout the country. She insisted that only an injunction nationwide would fully protect those concerned. After she finished reading her decision, she inquired if the government planned to appeal. The attorney responded that he did not know.
The ruling comes amid the emergency stopping of Trump’s executive order introduced into a decision by four states in Washington who described it as “blatantly unconstitutional”. Boardman ordered that the injunction would remain with the case is fully decided if the administration of Trump successfully appealed. Altogether, 22 states and several other groups moved to file lawsuits to block executive action.
Judge Boardman gets his choice after the hearing in Maryland after the nomination of President Joe Biden. CASA, the Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project, and a few pregnant women file the case. The lawyer representing the affected parents, Joseph Mead, claimed that many such parents have lived within the U.S. for months or years and have developed a home within the country.
