“American-Born Babies Are American” — Trump’s Push To End Birthright Citizenship Stalls

India-West News Desk

BOSTON, MA  — “American-born babies are American, just as they have been at every other time in our Nation’s history,” said New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin after a federal judge blocked the Trump administration from ending birthright citizenship for children born in the U.S. to undocumented immigrants.

U.S. District Judge Leo Sorokin issued the ruling on July 25  marking the third court decision nationwide to prevent enforcement of the administration’s controversial order. Sorokin’s ruling reinforces a broader injunction issued to more than a dozen states, which remains valid despite a recent Supreme Court decision that limits the ability of lower courts to issue nationwide injunctions. According to the Associated Press, the exception used by Sorokin is grounded in legal precedent that still permits such injunctions under specific circumstances.

The case revolves around the 14th Amendment, ratified in 1868 in the wake of the Civil War and the infamous Dred Scott ruling. That decision, as noted by the AP, denied citizenship to an enslaved man, sparking the constitutional clarification that anyone born on U.S. soil is a citizen.

The Trump administration has argued that children born to undocumented immigrants are not “subject to the jurisdiction” of the United States and therefore do not qualify for citizenship. White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson responded to the ruling by saying, “These courts are misinterpreting the purpose and the text of the 14th Amendment,” adding that the administration is confident it will “be vindicated on appeal.”

Legal experts anticipate the issue will return swiftly to the U.S. Supreme Court for further review.