Judge blocks new effort to limit birthright citizenship by Trump

A judge has blocked President Donald Trump's latest attempt to limit birthright citizenship in the US, after the Supreme Court rejected his previous effort.

Trump signed a more narrow executive order after the high court's ruling, seeking to deny citizenship to children of "alien enemies" and those engaged in "birth tourism".

But Judge Deborah Boardman said this, too, was likely an infringement upon the constitutional right of automatic citizenship conferred to those born in the US.

Boardman issued a preliminary injunction on Wednesday temporarily blocking Trump's order, until a lawsuit brought by immigrant advocacy groups is settled. The administration is likely to appeal.

"The 2026 Executive Order is almost certainly unconstitutional," Boardman said, citing the Supreme Court's ruling on Trump's earlier birthright citizenship effort.

"This Court must, once again, preliminarily enjoin enforcement of the President's most recent attempt to strip the right to citizenship from them."

The lawsuit was brought by a group of immigrant rights groups, including CASA and Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project. They had sued over Trump's previous executive order that sought to end birthright citizenship for children of undocumented immigrants.

After the Supreme Court's ruling in June, Trump signed a new, more narrow executive order in August. The order targeted "birth tourism", the practice of pregnant mothers coming to the US to give birth so that their babies automatically are citizens.

It is already illegal to travel to the US for the purpose of giving birth, but the latest executive order aimed to enhance regulations and expand enforcement against the practice.

It also aimed to eliminate citizenship for children whose parents are considered "alien enemies", a term the administration defines as those belonging to designated terrorist organisations, including drug cartels.

Under the August executive order, children whose parents work for foreign governments in the US also would have had their citizenship denied.

Government lawyers argued that the Supreme Court's ruling in June upholding birthright citizenship did not preclude other, more narrow options to limit the right.

Exceptions have been allowed in the past, they noted, including for the children of diplomats and alien enemies.

"This is just another ruling from an activist judge appointed by Biden attempting to thwart President Trump's commonsense agenda," a White House spokesperson said on Thursday, according to BBC media partner, CBS News.

"The birthright citizenship executive order is consistent with the holdings and analysis set forth by the Supreme Court."

Trump's repeated attempts to eliminate or reduce birthright citizenship are part of a larger strategy to reduce immigration and migration to the US, which has included ending Temporary Protected Status for several countries and increasing deportations.

In August, US immigration officials made nearly 51,000 arrests, a new monthly record.

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