Third federal judge blocks Trump’s birthright citizenship executive order

Washington — A federal judge in New Hampshire on Monday blocked President Trump’s executive order seeking to end birthright citizenship, becoming the third judge to do so amid more than half a dozen legal challenges to the president’s directive.

U.S. District Judge Joseph Laplante said at the end of a brief hearing that he would grant the request for a preliminary injunction sought by New Hampshire Indonesian Community Support, LULAC and Make the Road New York. The three groups filed the first federal lawsuit challenging Mr. Trump’s executive order, which he signed on his first day in office.

“The plaintiff has made the required showing to get a preliminary injunction,” Laplante, appointed by President George W. Bush, said.

He is expected to issue a written decision explaining his reasoning by Tuesday.

Laplante’s order comes on the heels of two others issued by federal judges in Washington and Maryland last week that barred enforcement of Mr. Trump’s birthright citizenship order nationwide. The Justice Department has appealed one of those decisions, from U.S. District Judge John Coughenour, to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit.

At least eight lawsuits have been filed in courts nationwide challenging Mr. Trump’s effort to end birthright citizenship, which came as part of a long-promised crackdown on immigration. His executive order denies U.S. citizenship to children born to mothers who are in the country unlawfully or temporarily on visas, and whose fathers are neither citizens nor lawful residents.

In the hearing before Laplante, Cody Wofsy, a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union who argued on behalf of the immigrant-rights groups, said Mr. Trump’s order is a “fundamental attack” on the Constitution and is “straightforwardly illegal” under Supreme Court precedent.

But Drew Ensign, a Justice Department lawyer, said Mr. Trump was well within his authority to eliminate birthright citizenship. The president’s order states that no federal agency shall issue or accept government documents recognizing children covered by the directive who are born on or after Feb. 19.