A federal judge on Wednesday temporarily blocked the Trump administration from enforcing President Donald Trump’s latest executive order restricting birthright citizenship, dealing another legal setback to the White House after the Supreme Court struck down Trump’s earlier attempt to narrow automatic citizenship for children born in the United States.
U.S. District Judge Deborah Boardman in Greenbelt, Maryland, granted a preliminary injunction sought by immigrant-rights advocates. The same groups had previously persuaded Boardman to block enforcement of Trump’s original 2025 executive order limiting birthright citizenship.
The Supreme Court rejected that earlier order on June 30, ruling that the administration’s attempt to deny citizenship to U.S.-born children whose parents were neither American citizens nor lawful permanent residents violated the citizenship clause of the 14th Amendment.
The constitutional provision grants citizenship to people born in the United States who are “subject to the jurisdiction thereof.”
In response to the Supreme Court ruling, Trump signed a revised executive order on Aug. 6 that was more narrowly tailored and specifically targeted “birth tourism,” the practice of women traveling to the United States to give birth so their children automatically receive American citizenship.
Under the new directive, citizenship would also be withheld from certain U.S.-born children if one of their parents works for a foreign government in the United States, participated in fraud or a commercial transaction for the purpose of securing citizenship, or is designated an “alien enemy.”
Following Trump’s signing of the revised order, attorneys pursuing a class-action lawsuit on behalf of infants who would have been denied citizenship under the 2025 directive returned to Boardman. They asked her to prevent the administration from implementing the new order and to ensure that the citizenship of their clients continued to be recognized.
Among the plaintiffs are the immigrant-rights organizations CASA and the Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project. Those groups were also involved in the earlier challenge that led Boardman to become one of four lower-court judges who blocked Trump’s first birthright citizenship order before the Supreme Court ultimately ruled on the matter.
Boardman, who was appointed to the federal bench by President Joe Biden, declined during a hearing Friday to immediately halt Trump’s revised directive. She nevertheless voiced doubts about its legality and permitted the plaintiffs to amend their lawsuit so she could consider whether to block what she described as an “unprecedented” order.
Attorneys for the Justice Department argued that issuing a restraining order was unwarranted because Trump’s new directive was significantly narrower than the broader executive order that prompted the plaintiffs’ original lawsuit.
The administration also argued that the latest challenge had been filed prematurely. Federal agencies have not yet released the public guidance necessary to explain precisely how Trump’s new directive will be carried out, Justice Department lawyers said, with that guidance expected by Friday. The administration maintained that any court challenge should wait until those implementation details are issued.
