Federal Judge Halts Trump’s Order to End Birthright Citizenship
A U.S. federal judge has issued a nationwide injunction blocking former President Donald Trump’s executive order aimed at ending birthright citizenship for children born in the United States to undocumented immigrants.
The decision, delivered on Thursday by U.S. District Judge Joseph Laplante in New Hampshire, followed a request from immigration rights advocates to certify a class action representing children potentially impacted by the policy.
Judge Laplante ruled from the bench, declaring the order unconstitutional and stating that its enforcement would result in “irreparable harm.”
“The deprivation of U.S. citizenship and the abrupt reversal of a longstanding policy that’s irreparable harm,” Laplante stated, calling U.S. citizenship “the greatest privilege that exists in the world.”
Although the Supreme Court recently limited the power of lower courts to issue nationwide injunctions, it preserved the ability of judges to block policies through class actions, which was the legal route taken in this case.
Laplante, appointed by former President George W. Bush, paused the ruling for several days to allow the Trump legal team time to file an appeal.
This development follows Laplante’s earlier ruling in February, which blocked enforcement of the order specifically for members of certain nonprofit organizations.
Thursday’s ruling broadens that protection to a certified class composed of all current and future children affected by the executive order though it notably excludes their parents.
The ruling aligns with several other judicial decisions declaring Trump’s order unconstitutional for contradicting the Fourteenth Amendment and over a century of legal precedent.
Immigration advocates welcomed the ruling. Cody Wofsy, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), emphasized the broader implications of the case.
“No court in the country has agreed with the administration on the constitutional issue,” Wofsy said. “We expect to prevail. This is about protecting every single child’s right to citizenship.”
The legal challenge includes two key class representatives: a Honduran asylum-seeker living in New Hampshire and expecting a child later this year, and a Brazilian father whose undocumented wife recently gave birth in the U.S.
Attorneys warned that if the executive order were allowed to stand, affected children could face long-term consequences including statelessness, loss of voting rights, exclusion from federal employment, and risk of detention or deportation.
While the Justice Department had requested time for discovery to further investigate the class members’ individual immigration statuses, Judge Laplante ruled that the urgency of the case did not allow for delay.
“There’s no time for discovery,” he said. “Class action is different. The Supreme Court suggested it’s the better option.”
This ruling marks a significant legal roadblock for Trump’s immigration policy agenda and provides critical protections for thousands of children whose citizenship status was at stake.
