A federal judge has blocked President Donald Trump’s executive order curtailing birthright citizenship, a constitutionally enshrined right granting automatic citizenship to anyone born in the United States.

District Court Judge John Coughenour issued the temporary restraining order on Thursday in Seattle, Washington, preventing the government from implementing what he called a “blatantly unconstitutional” measure.

The executive order threatened to affect not just children born in the US to undocumented parents but also children of immigrants legally in the country.

As many as five lawsuits have been filed against Trump’s attack on birthright citizenship, encompassing officials from 22 states and several civil rights groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union.

Temporary restraining order came as the result of a complaint filed by four Democrat-led states: Arizona, Illinois, Oregon and Washington. It was the first of the suits to reach the hearing stage.

The Trump administration, however, has maintained that birthright citizenship encourages irregular migration into the US.

It also has argued that the 14th Amendment was not meant to apply to people with undocumented parents because they are not “subject to the jurisdiction” of the US.

Trump’s Department of Justice described Monday’s executive order as an “integral part” of the government’s efforts to address the “ongoing crisis at the southern border”.

The order instructs the Social Security Administration to not issue Social Security cards or numbers to children born after February 19 if either of their parents are not citizens or legal permanent residents.The US is one of about 30 countries in the world with birthright citizenship. The 14th Amendment was implemented after the Civil War to extend citizenship to Black people who had previously been enslaved.