'Blatantly unconstitutional': Federal judge blocks Donald Trump's order to end birthright citizenship

"This is blatantly unconstitutional order," the judge told a lawyer with the U.S. Justice Department defending Trump's order.

The executive order signed by Trump specified that a child born in the USA will be granted citizens if at least one parent must be a US citizen, a legal permanent resident (green card holder), or a member of the US military.

"The Secretary of State, the Attorney General, the Secretary of Homeland Security, and the Commissioner of Social Security shall take all appropriate measures to ensure that the regulations and policies of their respective departments and agencies are consistent with this order, and that no officers, employees, or agents of their respective departments and agencies act, or forbear from acting, in any manner inconsistent with this order," read the White House order.

Attorneys general from 22 states sued Tuesday to block President Donald Trump’s move to end a century-old immigration practice known as birthright citizenship guaranteeing that U.S.-born children are citizens regardless of their parents’ status.

"Under this order, babies being born today don't count as U.S. citizens," Washington Assistant Attorney General Lane Polozola told Senior U.S. District Judge John Coughenour at the commencement of the hearing in Seattle on Thursday.

Polozola, on behalf of Democratic state attorneys general from Washington state, Arizona, Illinois and Oregon, urged the judge to issue a temporary restraining order to prevent the administration from carrying out this key element of Trump's immigration crackdown.

What is Birthright citizenship?

As per the American Immigration Council website, Birthright citizenship is a legal principle under which citizenship is automatically granted to individuals upon birth.

In the United States, birthright citizenship is guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution, the website said.