US judge blocks Trump's order restricting birthright citizenship

A federal judge in Seattle on Jan 23 blocked President Donald Trump's administration from implementing an executive order curtailing the right to automatic birthright citizenship in the United States, calling it "blatantly unconstitutional".

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US District Judge John Coughenour issued a temporary restraining order at the urging of four Democratic-led states - Washington, Arizona, Illinois and Oregon - preventing the administration from enforcing the order. Mr Trump had signed the order on Jan 20, his first day back in office.

The judge, an appointee of Republican former president Ronald Reagan, dealt the first legal setback to the hardline policies on immigration that are a centrepiece of Mr Trump's second term as president.

"Obviously we will appeal," Mr Trump said of Judge Coughenour's ruling.

Mr Trump's executive order had directed 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.

"I am having trouble understanding how a member of the bar could state unequivocally that this order is constitutional," the judge told a US Justice Department lawyer defending Mr Trump's order. "It just boggles my mind."

The states argued that Mr Trump's order violated the right enshrined in the citizenship clause of the US Constitution's 14th Amendment that provides that anyone born in the US is a citizen.

"I have been on the bench for over four decades. I can't remember another case where the question presented is as clear as this one. This is a blatantly unconstitutional order," the judge said.