United States President, Donald Trump has launched a second bid to curb birthright citizenship guarantees. This move comes mere weeks after the US Supreme Court struck down his initial, broader attempt to deny automatic citizenship to children born to temporary foreign residents and undocumented immigrants.
On Thursday, Trump issued two executive orders to expand the groups of newborns denied automatic citizenship and to outlaw “birth tourism”. Legal experts expect these new mandates to prompt swift court challenges.
Trump has long targeted birthright citizenship, positioning its elimination at the centre of his second-term immigration policy. So far, his efforts have yielded no success.
On Thursday, the president lashed out at the supreme court over what he called “a very unfortunate decision in the supreme court concerning birthright”.
“It was close, but a very, very unfortunate decision,” Trump told reporters. “So we’re making adjustments because it’s very unfair.”
In an executive order titled “CONTINUING TO PROTECT THE MEANING AND VALUE OF AMERICAN CITIZENSHIP” Trump described foreigners as aliens.
He said, “This order identifies, non-exhaustively, and prescribes action concerning certain categories of children of aliens who do not fall within the rule of birthright citizenship as announced by the Supreme Court.”
Details Of The Executive Orders
The first new directive broadens the criteria defining which children lose eligibility for birthright citizenship.
This order also expands the diplomat exception beyond foreign ambassadors to bar children of additional foreign government staff, while declaring anyone born in “a territory or territorial waters of the United States where citizenship is not conferred by federal statute” ineligible. Currently, that restriction applies exclusively to American Samoa.
The second directive targets “birth tourism”—a practice where non-citizens travel to the U.S. specifically to deliver children who automatically secure American citizenship. On Thursday, Trump asserted that “hundreds of thousands” of individuals participate in this trend, though he offered no supporting evidence.
Displeased, the US president told reporters that “They’ve taken birthright citizenship and they’ve made a joke out of it,” People are building businesses around it. That’s not the way it’s supposed to work. It’s a disgrace. They’re buying their way in, and we’re not going to let it happen.”
Additionally, the second order requires federal agencies to target “birth tourism operators” who use such means travel to the US.
Backstory…
According to a report by the Migration Policy Institute, the highest census-based estimate “puts birth tourism at 22,000 to 26,000 babies born annually on US soil, although government data show just 9,600 births to mothers with foreign addresses in 2024”.
The executive order marks the latest in a string of hardline immigration measures introduced by President Donald Trump since returning to office.
According to the Guardian, Trump’s new directions attempt to put that verdict to the test by increasing the categories of people who, according to the administration, fall outside the 14th Amendment’s citizenship guarantee, while also asking agencies to step up their efforts to combat birth tourism.
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