District Judge Blocks White House's Second Birthright Citizenship Order

A federal judge has blocked President Trump's second attempt to limit birthright citizenship, ruling his newest executive order can't be enforced against a group of U.S.-born children who already sued the administration once.

On September 2, U.S. District Judge Deborah Boardman issued a preliminary injunction on the long-running case CASA v. Trump. Her ruling temporarily blocked enforcement of a second set of executive orders that tried to use new categories, such as birth tourism and foreign government employment, to limit birthright citizenship.

What did the court's memorandum opinion decide?

Here's what Judge Boardman's memorandum opinion found:

• The Supreme Court's Trump v. Barbara ruling already established that children born to parents who are in the U.S. unlawfully or temporarily are citizens at birth.
• The certified class covers any child born in the U.S. after February 19, 2025 whose mother was unlawfully present or under legal nonimmigrant status, and whose father was not a U.S. citizen or Green Card holder.
• Because the courts defined these groups nationwide, the protection covers every child who fits these descriptions, not just the families who filed this lawsuit.
• The injunction stops the State Department, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and the Social Security Administration (SSA) from denying citizenship to any child who fits the above definitions.
• Agencies can still issue implementation guidance, and the provision addressing children born in U.S. territories remains untouched, as the court found it doesn't apply to anyone in the certified class.

Who is affected by this preliminary injunction on birth tourism?

Manifest immigration attorney Ana Gabriela Urizar says the injunction actually protects most of the children the new order was written to target, including most birth tourism cases.

“This class was written broadly on purpose, and already covers any child born to a parent who wasn't a U.S. citizen or Green Card holder,” Urizar says. “The two groups this injunction doesn't reach are children of foreign diplomats, who were already excluded under long-standing law, and children born in certain U.S. territories, which the judge carved out of this order entirely.”

What happens next?

Urizar says the government can appeal the decision, which could mean the case for birthright citizenship remains contested.

“The administration is very likely to appeal this ruling to the Fourth Circuit,” Urizar said. “And this injunction only means the plaintiffs are likely to win. The court still has to decide the full case on the merits, so this fight over the new executive order isn't finished.”

This is a developing story. We'll continue to update this article as more information gets released.