Seattle Judge John Coughenour Suspends Trump's Executive Order on Jus Soli Signed on January 20. President: "We Will Appeal." 18 More States in Court

A federal judge on January 23 temporarily blocked President Donald Trump’s executive order denying U.S. citizenship to the children of parents living in the country illegally, calling it “blatantly unconstitutional” during the first hearing in a multi-state effort challenging the order.

Put simply, under Trump’s order, the children of most undocumented immigrants wouldn’t be US citizens, nor would the children of people in the country on student, work, or tourist visas. This is more than a reinterpretation of the 14th Amendment — it’s an attempt to do away with the jus soli principle that undergirds US citizenship.

President Donald Trump signed an executive order targeting the definition of birthright citizenship. Do other countries grant birth-place citizenship?

A federal judge has temporarily blocked President Donald Trump’s executive order ending the constitutional guarantee of birthright citizenship regardless of the parents’ immigration status

The U.S. is among about 30 countries where birthright citizenship — the principle of jus soli or “right of the soil” — is applied. Most are in the Americas, and Canada and Mexico are among them. The lawsuits argue that the 14th Amendment to the U.