TRENTON, NJ – New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin hailed a federal appeals court decision Friday that halted President Trump’s attempt to end birthright citizenship through executive action.
The First Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously upheld a preliminary injunction preventing the administration from enforcing the order, which sought to terminate automatic citizenship for children born in the United States to non-citizen parents. Platkin called the ruling a decisive affirmation of constitutional protections that date back more than a century.
“As we have been saying since Inauguration Day, the President cannot rewrite citizenship with the stroke of a pen,” Platkin said in a statement. He added that the court recognized the order as unconstitutional and inconsistent with long-standing Supreme Court precedent.
The attorney general stressed that every judge reviewing the matter has reached the same conclusion, underscoring what he described as an unbroken constitutional consensus aside from the Civil War era. He pledged continued opposition to the policy as the legal battle moves forward.
The ruling delivers another legal setback to the administration’s immigration agenda.