A New Hampshire federal court on Monday became the third one to block President Donald Trump’s attempt to restrict automatic birthright citizenship.
New Hampshire Indonesian Community Support and other groups showed a likelihood of success on the merits of their legal challenge to Executive Order 14160, “Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship,” Judge Joseph N. Laplante of the US District Court for the District of New Hampshire said.
The executive order denies automatic citizenship to US-born children of immigrants who entered the country illegally or have temporary legal status.
The Trump administration is “enjoined from enforcing” the order in “any manner with respect to plaintiffs, and with respect to any individual or entity in any matter or instance within the jurisdiction of this court, during the pendency of this ligation,” Laplante said. The preliminary injunction will take effect immediately, he added.
A federal district court judge in Washington issued a preliminary injunction against the order Feb. 6. The government has appealed that decision before the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. A federal judge in Maryland also blocked Feb. 5 Trump’s move to limit automatic birthright citizenship.
The plaintiffs here, which also include League of United Latin American Citizens and Make the Road New York, sued Jan. 20.
The executive order violates the US Constitution, statutory commands, and longstanding US Supreme Court precedent, their complaint said.
And the executive order threatens the plaintiffs with a “lifetime of exclusion from society and fear of deportation from the only country they have known. But that is illegal,” the plaintiffs said.
American Civil Liberties Union Foundation, NAACP Legal Defense Fund, and Asian Law Caucus represent the plaintiffs.
The case is New Hampshire Indonesian Cmty. Support v. Trump, D.N.H., No. 25-cv-38, 2/10/25.
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