A federal judge has temporarily blocked the implementation of new measures pushed by President Donald Trump to combat so-called “birth tourism,” a practice in which foreigners travel to the United States with the purpose of giving birth in the country.
Judge Deborah Boardman of the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland issued a preliminary order on Wednesday preventing the government from enforcing provisions included in Trump’s recent executive orders while the legal challenge moves forward.
Boardman, who was appointed by former President Joe Biden, determined that Trump’s new executive order is “almost certainly unconstitutional,” arguing that it conflicts with a recent Supreme Court ruling concerning birthright citizenship.
Measures announced
The decision represents another legal setback for the Trump administration in its effort to limit automatic citizenship for certain children born on U.S. soil.
Trump signed two executive orders last month aimed at restricting birthright citizenship and combating what his administration calls “birth tourism.”
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One of the orders establishes categories of children who, under the administration’s interpretation, would not automatically qualify for U.S. citizenship at birth.
The second directs the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of State to take steps to prevent foreigners from using the U.S. immigration system to travel to the country to give birth and obtain citizenship for their children.
The measures were announced after the Supreme Court rejected Trump’s first attempt to end birthright citizenship for certain children of undocumented immigrants and other people who are temporarily in the United States.
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The administration maintains that the new orders were drafted with the Supreme Court’s ruling in mind and are intended to expand exceptions that, according to its interpretation, already exist under U.S. law.
