Maryland judge blocks Trump’s latest birthright citizenship order

On Jan. 20, 2025, President Trump signed an executive order seeking to deny birthright citizenship to U.S.-born children of non-citizens who were unlawfully or only temporarily in the country.

Judge Deborah Boardman previously blocked enforcement of that 2025 order.

The Supreme Court rejected the 2025 birthright-citizenship order in Trump v. Barbara.

The 14th Amendment’s Citizenship Clause says persons born in the United States and subject to its jurisdiction are citizens.

United States v. Wong Kim Ark is the leading historical case treating most U.S.-born children as citizens regardless of their parents’ status.

American law has recognized narrow historical exceptions to birthright citizenship, including children of foreign diplomats and invading armies.

Trump signed a new, narrower executive order on Aug. 6, 2026.

Trump signed two executive orders in August 2026 on birthright citizenship and birth tourism.

The August order was narrower than the January 2025 order.

The August order targeted birth tourism — traveling to the United States to give birth so the child obtains citizenship.

The August order sought to deny citizenship to children of people classified as “alien enemies.”

The August order sought to deny citizenship to children of parents who work for foreign governments in the United States.

The August order sought to deny citizenship where a parent engaged in a commercial transaction or fraud to obtain citizenship.

CASA Inc. is a plaintiff challenging the August order.

The Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project is a plaintiff in the case.

The week before the injunction, Boardman required the plaintiffs to address the August 2026 order rather than rely on a complaint aimed at the 2025 order.

Boardman called the new order unprecedented.

U.S. District Judge Deborah Boardman in Maryland issued a preliminary injunction on Wednesday, Sept. 2, blocking enforcement of Trump’s August 2026 birthright-citizenship order.

Boardman’s ruling was 35 pages.

Boardman is a Biden appointee.

Boardman sits on the U.S. District Court in Maryland.

The injunction is the first ruling blocking the 2026 birthright-citizenship order.

Boardman wrote that the 2026 executive order is almost certainly unconstitutional as applied to the certified class.

Boardman wrote that the Supreme Court in Barbara already held that children in the certified class are citizens at birth.

Boardman wrote that the court must once again preliminarily enjoin the president’s latest attempt to strip the right to citizenship from the class.

Boardman wrote that no presidential executive order can undo what the Supreme Court has done.

Boardman wrote that Barbara is the law of the land and the president must follow it.

The injunction bars the State Department, DHS, and Social Security Administration from denying or failing to recognize the citizenship of class members.

White House spokesperson Lauren Bis called the ruling the work of an activist Biden-appointed judge attempting to thwart Trump’s agenda.

Bis said the birthright-citizenship executive order is consistent with the Supreme Court’s holdings and analysis.

Attorney General Todd Blanche said the administration crafted the executive order around the Supreme Court’s decision.

Blanche said the administration did not expect this judge to say it was right.

The State Department has moved to require parents seeking children’s passports to provide proof of their own citizenship or immigration status.

Boardman wrote that the government had distorted and completely misread the Supreme Court’s ruling in Barbara.

The injunction covers class members born after Feb. 19, 2025.

Blanche said the administration will keep fighting and will return to the Supreme Court if needed.

The Justice Department argued the new order does not conflict with Barbara because it was designed around narrow exceptions the Court left open.

The administration is expected to appeal.