Challengers To Trump’s Birthright Citizenship Order Spar With Doj Over Timing

Lawyers for the Justice Department and five pregnant immigrants challenging President Donald Trump’s executive order on birthright citizenship squared off before a federal judge Thursday over how quickly Trump’s directive could go into effect.

During a half-hour telephone conference with a judge in Maryland, a Justice Department attorney argued there’s no extreme urgency to the six pending lawsuits over the order because it doesn’t take effect until Feb. 19 and covers only children born after that date.

“The executive order doesn’t become effective for 30 days,” DOJ attorney Brad Rosenberg declared of the directive Trump signed Monday, which instructs federal agencies not to accept or create U.S. citizenship documents for children born to those who are unlawfully in the U.S. or who are here on temporary visas, including student and work visas.

However, an attorney for the pregnant women and two immigrant rights groups who filed suit on Tuesday, Joseph Mead, said parts of the order appear to go into effect immediately. He also said the uncertainty created by the order is already impacting families, and the stress of the situation could create medical problems for the women.

“Even today, our plaintiffs are facing irreparable harm in the psychological harm that they have in not knowing the status of their children — children who will be born in the coming weeks and months,” said Mead, who added that some women may seek to have their children early to beat the deadline in Trump’s order.

U.S. District Court Judge Deborah Boardman, who is based in Greenbelt and was appointed by President Joe Biden, seemed to agree with the plaintiffs that parts of the order could be in effect now. The judge did not issue a ruling on the matter.

Rosenberg said the parts of the order that aren’t delayed “was largely a preamble” and noted that another directed agencies to issue guidance on the subject. He said he did not believe agencies had taken any action under the order, but when pressed by Boardman acknowledged he hadn’t canvassed them all.

“I can only say that I am not aware of the agencies having taken any steps at this point,” Rosenberg said. “It is very early within the 30 day window.”

“If a child born to parents subject to this order is born this afternoon within the United States, would that person be a United States citizen?” the judge asked.

“As I read the executive order, the answer is yes,” Rosenberg said.

While there’s broad legal consensus that all children born in the U.S. are citizens, aside from the children of foreign diplomats, Mead said the order insists that isn’t the case. He argued that is already stirring up confusion and alarm regardless of whether passports and other documents have been affected.

“Being a U.S. citizen is not about a piece of paper that the government sends you, it’s about much more,” he said.

Boardman ultimately set a bit slower schedule for action in the case than she initially suggested, setting a hearing for Feb. 5 on the motion to block Trump’s order.

It’s possible that the order could already be blocked by then. At least six suits over the order have already been filed and a federal judge in Seattle is scheduled to hold a hearing later Thursday on a request for emergency relief in a case filed there.