A third judge blocks Trump’s decree that ends citizens by the birth of children of undocumented people

AP
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A third federal judge blocked on Monday the decree of President Donald Trump that ends citizens by birth for the children of people residing in the United States irregularly.

The judgment of the federal district judge Joseph N. Laplante in Nueva Hampshire occurs after two similar judges in Seattle and Maryland last week.

Laplante, who was nominated by Republican President George W. Bush, said he did not convince him the defense of the decree by the Trump administration. He said he would issue a longer preliminary court order explaining his reasoning.

A lawsuit filed by the US Civil Libertads Union (ACLU) argues that Trump’s decree violates the Constitution and “tries to disrupt one of the most fundamental American constitutional values.” It was presented on behalf of the Defense Groups of the Rights of Immigrants who include members who are pregnant and whose children could be affected by the decree.

Trump’s republican administration states that the children of people who are not citizens are not “subject to the jurisdiction” of the United States and, therefore, have no right to citizenship.

The government is appealing the block of the Seattle judge to Trump’s decree.

There have been at least nine demands to challenge the decree on citizenship by birth.

In the case presented by four states in Seattle, the federal district judge John C. Couchnour said last week that the Trump administration was trying to ignore the Constitution.

“The rule of law is, according to him, something that must be raffled or something that is ignored, either by political or personal gain,” said Cughenour, who was appointed by Republican President Ronald Reagan. “In this room and under my supervision, the rule of law is a brilliant lighthouse, which I intend to continue.”

A federal judge of Maryland also blocked Trump’s decree in another case presented by groups to defense the rights of immigrants and pregnant women whose children to be born could be affected.

So far, the Trump government has not presented an appeal against the preliminary court order issued by the Federal Judge of District Deborah Boardman, appointed by Democratic President Joe Biden.

A Federal Judge of Boston also listened to the arguments last week in a lawsuit filed by a group of 18 states. The US district judge Leo Sorokin, appointed by Democratic President Barack Obama, did not pronounce immediately.

Laplante, the judge of Nueva Hampshire, praised both parties because of the way they presented their cases.

“I am not convinced by the defendants’ arguments in this motion,” he said. “I have to say that they do not offend me, as a lawyer or jurist. I believe that the rule of law is attended, maintains and preserves better when excellent professionals present their arguments before the court with all the experience, expertise and knowledge that they can gather. ”

In the center of the demands of the three cases there is the fourteenth amendment of the Constitution, ratified in 1868 after the civil war and the decision of the Supreme Court in the case of Dred Scott, which argued that Scott, a enslaved man, not He was a citizen despite having lived in a state where slavery was prohibited.

In 1898, in a case known as the United States against Wong Kim Ark, the United States Supreme Court determined that the only children who did not automatically receive US citizenship at birth on American soil were the children of diplomats, who have loyalty to another government ; The enemies present in the United States during a hostile occupation; those born in foreign ships; and those born of members of American sovereign tribes.

The United States is one of the approximately 30 countries that apply citizens by birth right, the principle of ius soli or “land law.” Most are in America, and Canada and Mexico are among them.