President Trump signed two executive orders Thursday aimed at narrowing who qualifies for birthright citizenship and cracking down on so-called “birth tourism,” in which women travel to the U.S. specifically to give birth so their children automatically receive American citizenship.
The orders come just weeks after the U.S. Supreme Court, in a 6-3 ruling, struck down Trump’s earlier attempt to end birthright citizenship for undocumented immigrants through executive action.
Speaking to reporters during an Oval Office event, Trump described the June 30 ruling as a very unfortunate decision, arguing that the constitutional provision guaranteeing citizenship to babies born in the U.S. was originally intended for a much narrower purpose. “This was done right after the Civil War,” he said. “This was for the babies of slaves, and what’s happening now? People are building businesses around it.”
It remains unclear exactly how the two new orders could realistically be enforced. They aim to restrict eligibility for birthright citizenship by excluding children of foreign government staff serving in the U.S., as well as babies born to mothers who misrepresent their reasons for visiting the country while pregnant.
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A third proposed category, covering babies born in U.S. territories, would require congressional action before it could take effect. The orders would also apply to children whose parents are designated by the government as members of known terrorist organizations or as “alien enemies.”
Trump has criticized birthright citizenship for years, frequently invoking it as part of his broader push to restrict legal immigration, and has spoken about wanting to end it since his first term. He notably attended oral arguments in the birthright citizenship case at the Supreme Court, an unusual step for a sitting president.
Stephen Miller, Trump’s top domestic policy adviser and a key architect of his immigration agenda, along with White House staff secretary Will Scharf, described the new orders as important fixes to the current system. Miller argued that the 14th Amendment was passed specifically in the aftermath of the Civil War to ensure the children of formerly enslaved people would be recognized as citizens, and that it had no broader purpose beyond that.
The White House staff secretary alsocharacterized birth tourism as something that once occurred only incidentally, when a traveler happened to go into early labor while visiting the country, but said it has since evolved into organized, sometimes criminal networks bringing tens of thousands of people to the U.S. for that specific purpose.
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said officials are considering measures such as denying visas to travelers suspected of visiting solely to give birth in the country, and maintained that nothing in the new orders conflicts with the Supreme Court’s prior rulings on the issue.
A Department of Homeland Security official, speaking anonymously because they weren’t authorized to discuss the orders publicly, was more skeptical of the birth tourism measure specifically, noting that it introduces nothing new from an enforcement standpoint since it largely restates existing law.
When asked how the administration would distinguish ordinary tourism from birth tourism, Miller pointed to Section 215A of the Immigration and Nationality Act as the legal basis granting the president authority to impose the new restrictions.
Pressed by a reporter who noted that the administration’s own solicitor general had been unable to tell the Supreme Court how many people actually benefit from birthright citizenship, Trump responded that the number was in the hundreds of thousands.
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A study released around the time of the Supreme Court ruling by researchers at Pennsylvania State University found that fewer than 0.3% of all U.S. births in any given year involved tourists. Trump nonetheless continued, citing unverified anecdotes about individuals entering the country claiming dozens of children, and reiterated his claim that the provision was meant only for the children of formerly enslaved people shortly after the Civil War ended.
In fact, birthright citizenship was ratified as part of the 14th Amendment more than three years after the war concluded.
Any renewed attempt to exclude new categories of people from automatic citizenship is expected to trigger fresh legal challenges. Disputes are likely over how terms like “alien enemies” or invading armies are defined, categories that lower courts have already rejected in separate cases tied to the administration’s aggressive immigration policies.
While federal law gives the government broad authority over who may enter the country, it also prohibits discrimination in visa issuance, meaning restrictions targeting pregnant travelers from certain countries could similarly invite discrimination claims.
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In its final ruling of the term, the Supreme Court rejected Trump’s earlier effort to deny automatic citizenship to babies born on U.S. soil to undocumented immigrants and temporary foreign residents, a significant setback to his long-running campaign against birthright citizenship.
Following the ruling, Trump inaccurately suggested he could bypass the Court’s decision through legislation. Five justices, a clear majority, found that birthright citizenship is constitutionally guaranteed, meaning any effort to alter the longstanding principle that nearly all children born in the U.S. are citizens would likely require a constitutional amendment.
A sixth justice, Brett Kavanaugh, indicated he would have struck down Trump’s original order on statutory rather than constitutional grounds.
Shortly after the ruling, Trump said he would ask the justices to reconsider their decision, a request the Court rarely grants once a case has already been argued and decided. The deadline for filing such a request passed last week without Trump formally seeking a rehearing.
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Responding to Thursday’s new orders, Cody Wofsy, deputy director of the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project, said in a statement that the Supreme Court had already settled the matter, affirming that birthright citizenship is guaranteed by the Constitution and that no executive order can alter its meaning, predicting that any attempt to rewrite birthright citizenship through executive action would meet the same fate as the last one.
