Trump signs orders targeting birthright citizenship
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- Trump signed two executive orders on Aug 6 attempting to limit birthright citizenship, two months after the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 on Jun 30 that his prior executive order on the issue was unconstitutional.
- The orders primarily target birth tourism — pregnant foreigners traveling to the US to give birth — with the administration arguing the new directive does not fall within the Supreme Court's ruling and thus can expand who is deemed ineligible.
- Stephen Miller, speaking at the Oval Office signing, declared "no one in the world is anymore allowed to obtain a visa for this fraudulent purpose"; the orders also limit rights of children born to foreign government employees in the US and those classified as "alien enemies."
- The orders could extend to US territories if Congress enacts a proposed law ending automatic citizenship there; Trump also called on Congress to act after his June Supreme Court setback.
- Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the June ruling that the 14th Amendment's authors "extended that promise to every free-born person in the land," calling citizenship "the right to have rights" — a line the new orders directly contest.
- A 2020 federal regulation during Trump's first term already prohibits using tourist and business visas for the primary purpose of obtaining citizenship for a newborn, though no law outright bars birth tourism; the Center for Immigration Studies estimated 20,000-25,000 mothers came for birth tourism in 2016-2017, against 3.6 million US births in 2025.
Why it matters: The orders face near-certain court challenges — Trump himself called the June ruling "a very, very unfortunate decision" — but they broaden the categories of children who could be denied citizenship beyond his prior order, including those born to foreign diplomats and 'alien enemies.' The move reignites a constitutional clash over the 14th Amendment's Citizenship Clause amid 3.6 million annual US births.
