Judge shields 150,000 newborns from Trump’s birthright citizenship crackdown

A federal judge on Thursday blocked President Donald Trump’s executive order ending birthright citizenship from taking effect nationwide, using class action procedures after the Supreme Court restricted judges’ authority to issue broad injunctions.

U.S. District Judge Joseph Laplante in New Hampshire granted class action status to a lawsuit protecting babies who would lose citizenship under Trump’s Jan. 20 executive order. The ruling covers all current and future children born to parents who lack U.S. citizenship or permanent residency, preventing the policy from taking effect nationwide on its scheduled July 27 implementation date.

Laplante, who was appointed by President George W. Bush, called the decision to issue an injunction “not a close call,” explaining that citizenship deprivation constitutes irreparable harm. “That’s irreparable harm, citizenship alone,” he said during the hearing. “It is the greatest privilege that exists in the world.” The judge provided a seven-day stay to allow the Trump administration to appeal, which Justice Department lawyers indicated they would pursue.

The ruling represents a key test of how courts can challenge federal policies after the Supreme Court’s June 27 decision that restricted nationwide injunctions. The high court’s 6-3 ruling had narrowed three previous nationwide blocks of Trump’s order, potentially allowing partial enforcement in some states. However, Justice Amy Coney Barrett’s majority opinion preserved class action lawsuits as an alternative route for broad relief.

“Since the Supreme Court’s decision, parents have lived in fear and uncertainty, wondering whether they should give birth in a different state, whether their newborns would be subject to deportation, and what kind of future awaits their children,” said Aarti Kohli, executive director of the Asian Law Caucus. “This court’s injunction protecting birthright citizenship for all affected children is a major victory for families across this country and for all Americans. This ruling reaffirms that constitutional rights cannot be stripped away by executive decree.”

Trump’s order challenges the 14th Amendment’s citizenship clause and the 1898 Supreme Court precedent in United States v. Wong Kim Ark, which established birthright citizenship for nearly all U.S.-born children. In a previous interview with The Rebel Yellow, Rahat N. Babar, deputy executive director and general counsel of the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA), argued that the Trump administration “mistakenly analogizes Wong Kim Ark’s parents to modern day green card holders” while ignoring the historical context of Chinese exclusion. Babar also emphasized that “much of this nation’s foundational immigration case law has been established by Asian American legal pioneers” who faced “widespread and systematic violence and lynchings.”

More than 150,000 newborns would be denied citizenship annually if Trump’s order takes full effect, according to court filings. The White House criticized Laplante’s ruling as “an obvious and unlawful attempt to circumvent the Supreme Court’s clear order,” with spokesperson Harrison Fields vowing vigorous appeals.

The case will likely return to the Supreme Court for final determination on both the procedural questions surrounding class actions and the constitutional merits of birthright citizenship restrictions.