HOUSTON, United States

A judge in the US state of Massachusetts ruled Friday to keep a nationwide injunction in place that blocks President Donald Trump’s executive order limiting birthright citizenship, according to media reports.

US District Judge Leo Sorokin said his earlier nationwide injunction was the only way to provide complete relief to a coalition of Democratic-led states that brought the lawsuit.

Sorokin rejected the Trump administration's argument that a narrower ruling was warranted because of a June decision by the US Supreme Court.

"(The evidence) does not support a finding that any narrower option would feasibly and adequately protect the plaintiffs from the injuries they have shown they are likely to suffer if the unlawful policy announced in the Executive Order takes effect during the pendency of this lawsuit," Sorokin wrote in his ruling.

Trump signed the executive order Jan. 20 – the day he was inaugurated, as part of his crackdown on illegal immigration.

It directed federal agencies to refuse to recognize the citizenship of US-born children who do not have at least one parent who is an American citizen or a legal permanent resident.

Trump's executive order was immediately challenged by Democratic attorneys general from 22 states and immigrant rights advocates who argued that it violated the US Constitution's 14th Amendment, recognizing the citizenship of any child born on US soil.

"American-born babies are American, just as they have been at every other time in our nation’s history," New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin said in a statement.

"The president cannot change that legal rule with the stroke of a pen," he added.

The White House plans to appeal the decision.

"Courts are misinterpreting the purpose and the text" of the 14th Amendment, said White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson.

"We look forward to being vindicated on appeal," she added.