US Judge To Hear States' Bid To Block Trump Birthright Citizenship Order

Four Democratic-led states will urge a federal judge in Seattle on Thursday to block US President Donald Trump's administration from enforcing the Republican's executive order curtailing the right to automatic birthright citizenship in the United States.

Senior US District Judge John Coughenour is scheduled to hear arguments on a request by Democratic state attorneys general from Washington, Arizona, Illinois and Oregon for a temporary restraining order that would prevent Trump's administration from carrying out a key component of his immigration crackdown.

That executive order, which Trump signed on Monday after taking office, directs US agencies to refuse to recognise the citizenship of children born in the US if neither their mother nor father is a US citizen or legal permanent resident.

The executive order has already become the subject of five lawsuits, with civil rights groups and Democratic attorneys general from 22 states calling it flagrantly unconstitutional.

The White House did not respond to requests for comment.

Among the lawsuits was the case filed in Seattle, which has been progressing the fastest of the five cases. It has been assigned to Coughenour, an appointee of Republican former President Ronald Reagan.

Absent judicial intervention, any children born after February 19 whose mothers or fathers are not citizens or lawful permanent residents would be subject to deportation and would be prevented from obtaining Social Security numbers, various government benefits and the ability as they get older to work lawfully.

More than 150,000 newborn children would be denied citizenship annually if Trump's order if it is allowed to stand, the Democratic-led states argue.

The lawsuits argue that Trump's executive order violates the right enshrined in the citizenship clause of the US Constitution's 14th Amendment that provides that anyone born in the United States is considered a citizen.

Democratic state attorneys general say that understanding of the citizenship clause was cemented 127 years ago when the US Supreme Court held that children born in the United States to non-citizen parents are entitled to US citizenship.

The 14th Amendment was adopted in 1868 following the Civil War and overturned the Supreme Court's notorious 1857 Dred Scott decision that declared that the U.S. Constitution did not apply to enslaved Black people.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)