On Monday, January 20, 2025, President Donald Trump signed an executive order regarding birthright citizenship in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington. AP Photo
A federal judge has temporarily blocked President Donald Trump’s executive order, which sought to deny U.S. citizenship to children born on American soil to parents who are living in the country illegally. U.S. District Judge John Coughenour called the order “blatantly unconstitutional” during the first hearing in a multi-state effort to challenge the order.
The 14th Amendment, ratified in 1868, guarantees citizenship to anyone born in the United States, a provision aimed at ensuring citizenship for former slaves after the Civil War. However, in a controversial move to address illegal immigration, President Trump issued the executive order shortly after being sworn in for his second term. The order would apply to children born after February 19, whose parents are residing illegally in the country, and prohibit U.S. agencies from issuing any documents recognizing citizenship for these children.
Trump's executive order faced immediate legal opposition across the nation, with at least five lawsuits filed by 22 states and various immigrant rights groups. A lawsuit filed by Washington, Arizona, Oregon, and Illinois was the first to be heard in court. In response to the order, Judge Coughenour questioned the Justice Department attorney, Brett Shumate, asking how anyone could argue that the order was constitutional, given its direct contradiction with the 14th Amendment.
“I’ve been on the bench for over four decades. I can’t remember another case where the question presented was as clear as this one is,” Coughenour said, calling the order unconstitutional. The judge temporarily blocked the order from being implemented for 14 days while further arguments were made. A follow-up hearing has been scheduled for February 6 to decide whether the order should be blocked for a longer period.
On Tuesday, January 21, 2025, Washington Attorney General Nick Brown held a news conference in Seattle, announcing that Washington would join a federal lawsuit to oppose President Donald Trump's executive order aimed at ending birthright citizenship. AP Photo
Shumate defended the executive order, claiming it correctly interpreted the 14th Amendment. He also argued that the case presented new issues that had never been litigated before. Despite this, Coughenour appeared skeptical, remarking that he could not understand how anyone could confidently state that the order was constitutional.
The Department of Justice, in a statement, expressed its intent to “vigorously defend” the executive order, believing it was in line with the 14th Amendment’s interpretation. The U.S. is one of about 30 countries where birthright citizenship is granted. 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.”
Trump’s executive order argued that children born to noncitizen parents were not “subject to the jurisdiction” of the United States and should therefore not be granted citizenship. During the hearing, Washington’s assistant attorney general, Lane Polozola, criticized this argument, calling it absurd and emphasizing that children born in the U.S. were subject to the country’s laws, regardless of their parents' immigration status.
Attorney General Nick Brown of Washington, who was part of the lawsuit, pointed out that the Citizenship Clause of the 14th Amendment was created to correct one of the darkest moments in U.S. history—the 1857 Dred Scott decision, which denied African Americans citizenship. He stressed that birthright citizenship has been the law for generations and that nothing could change that, including the president’s executive order.
Some critics of birthright citizenship, however, argue that previous Supreme Court cases, such as Wong Kim Ark in 1898, only applied to children born to parents who were legal immigrants. They claim it is unclear whether these rulings extend to children born to parents living in the U.S. illegally.
In a highly personal response, Connecticut Attorney General William Tong, a U.S. citizen by birthright, expressed his belief that Trump’s order was wrong and harmful. Tong, who is the nation’s first Chinese American elected attorney general, emphasized that Trump’s actions were inflicting unnecessary harm on American families, including his own.
