Trump's bid to end birthright citizenship rejected by court

Washington (Uttam Hindu News): A federal judge in Maryland has indefinitely stayed US President Donald Trump's executive order ending birthright citizenship. Its purpose was to end the birthright citizenship of illegal immigrants and foreign visitors with temporary visas. Judge Deborah L. Boardman of the United States District Court of Maryland issued a temporary restraining order on a petition filed by civil rights groups to stop Trump's order after a hearing on Wednesday.

According to the report, the order applies nationally. According to The Washington Post, Maryland's lawsuit is one of at least six separate federal cases against Trump's order, filed by a total of 22 Democratic-led states and more than a half-dozen civil rights groups.

Trump signed an order ending birthright citizenship just hours after taking office on January 20. He directed federal agencies to stop recognizing citizenship for children born after February 19 (if neither parent is a US citizen or permanent resident).

More than 20 states and civil rights groups had filed lawsuits challenging this order. They had called this decision unconstitutional. Earlier on January 23, Senior US District Judge John Coughanour had put a stay on US President Donald Trump's executive order limiting birthright citizenship.

Trump's executive order argued that the 14th Amendment has always excluded from birthright citizenship those who were born in the United States but not subject to its jurisdiction. Since Trump signed the order, at least six lawsuits have been filed challenging it, most of them by civil rights groups and Democratic attorneys general from 22 states.