US Gives Birthright Case Judge Assurances Amid Deportation Fears

The US Justice Department told a skeptical judge that the government won’t apply President Donald Trump’s executive order on birthright citizenship to affected immigrants before July 27, when the US Supreme Court’s 30-day pause on the directive expires.

Government lawyer Brad Rosenberg made the pledge in a filing Tuesday with US District Judge Deborah Boardman in Maryland. She’d requested written assurances after expressing concern about the potential for child deportations under the executive order during the 30-day window.

Trump’s order, part of a broad crackdown on immigration, aims to restrict citizenship to babies with at least one parent who is a US citizen or green card holder, meaning that even the newborn children of people on temporary visas wouldn’t become Americans.

Boardman indicated during a Monday hearing that the written assurance may prevent the need for a short-term temporary restraining order against Trump’s directive, requested by immigrant-rights groups. They argued in court filings that newborn babies would be at risk of potential deportation and separation from family members without such an order.

The groups are also seeking a longer lasting preliminary injunction that would put Trump’s order on hold during the lawsuit, which the judge is expected to rule on later this month.

Boardman is overseeing one of three major suits challenging Trump’s birthright executive proclamation. The groups and Democratic-led states that sued have been scrambling to lock in new or revised injunctions after the US Supreme Court last week issued a landmark decision restricting judges’ ability to broadly apply such orders to non-plaintiffs.

Read More: Supreme Court Curbs Judges in Birthright Case as Trump Touts Win

The Supreme Court hasn’t yet decided whether Trump’s restrictions are legal. His Jan. 20 executive order would overturn what has been the widespread understanding that the Constitution’s 14th Amendment confers citizenship on virtually everyone born on US soil.

To contact the reporter on this story:
Erik Larson in New York at elarson4@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Misyrlena Egkolfopoulou at megkolfopoul@bloomberg.net

Anthony Aarons, Elizabeth Wasserman

© 2025 Bloomberg L.P. All rights reserved. Used with permission.