The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court on Thursday to allow a ban on birthright citizenship in about half of the country for children born to undocumented immigrants and foreign visitors.

Trump administration lawyers asked the justices to limit the sweep of decisions by three lower courts that issued nationwide pauses on the policy.

Donald Trump took the fight over his attempt to restrict automatic U.S. birthright citizenship to the Supreme Court on Thursday as the Republican president's administration asked the justices to narrow a judicial block imposed on this key element of his hardline approach toward immigration.