SEATTLE:
Four Democratic-led states will urge a federal judge in Seattle on Thursday to block U.S. President Donald Trump's administration from enforcing Republicans' executive order banning automatic birthright rights in the United States limited.
Senior U.S. District Judge John Coughenour is expected to hear arguments on a request from Democratic attorneys general from Washington, Arizona, Illinois and Oregon for a temporary restraining order that would block Trump's administration from implementing a key part of his immigration policy .
That executive order, which Trump signed Monday after taking office, directs U.S. agencies to deny citizenship to U.S.-born children if neither their mother nor father is a U.S. citizen or legal permanent resident.
The executive order has already become the subject of five lawsuits, with civil rights groups and Democratic attorneys general from 22 states calling it blatantly unconstitutional.
The White House did not respond to requests for comment.
Among the lawsuits was the one filed in Seattle that made the fastest progress of the five cases. It has been assigned to Coughenour, an appointee of Republican former President Ronald Reagan.
Without judicial intervention, all children born after February 19 whose mother or father is not a citizen or lawful permanent resident would be deported and denied Social Security numbers, various government benefits, and the ability to work legally as they grow older.
More than 150,000 newborn children would be denied citizenship each year if Trump's order remained in effect, the Democratic-led states claim.
The lawsuits argue that Trump's executive order violates the right enshrined in the Citizenship Clause of the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which provides that anyone born in the United States is considered a citizen.
Democratic attorneys general say the understanding of the citizenship clause was strengthened 127 years ago when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that children born in the United States to noncitizen parents are entitled to U.S. citizenship.
The 14th Amendment was passed in 1868 after the Civil War and overturned the infamous 1857 Dred Scott Supreme Court decision that declared the U.S. Constitution did not apply to enslaved black people.
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