Trump signs orders to limit US birthright citizenship, despite Supreme Court ruling
The White House is taking particular aim at what it calls “birth tourism”, in which pregnant foreigners travel to the US to give birth.
White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller speaks while US President Donald Trump and US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick listen during an event to sign executive orders related to birthright citizenship and the polysilicon industry, in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, DC, Aug 6, 2026. (Photo: REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein)
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US President Donald Trump signed two executive orders on Thursday (Aug 6) in a new but narrower attempt to curtail birthright citizenship, renewing his challenge to a provision of the US Constitution after the Supreme Court rejected his previous effort.
Limiting birthright citizenship has been one of the top priorities in the Republican president’s crackdown on immigration, with the White House taking particular aim at what it calls “birth tourism”, in which pregnant foreigners travel to the US to give birth.
After his Jun 30 setback in the Supreme Court, Trump called on Congress to act, but on Thursday he opted for executive orders, which set policy but are not legally binding. The court said Trump’s earlier effort to restrict birthright citizenship was unconstitutional.
The administration argues the new directive does not fall within the limits of the Supreme Court ruling, allowing it to expand who would be considered ineligible for birthright citizenship, including those who would arrive for “birth tourism” purposes. The categories, Trump’s order said, “do not fall within the rule of birthright citizenship as announced by the Supreme Court”.
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“That practice of birth tourism is, as of the signing of this order, hereby banned. What that means is that no one in the world is anymore allowed to obtain a visa for this fraudulent purpose,” White House aide Stephen Miller said at the Thursday signing ceremony in the Oval Office.
The Center for Immigration Studies, which supports lower levels of immigration, estimated in an analysis in 2020 that between 20,000-25,000 mothers came to the US for birth tourism in a year-long period between 2016-2017.
There were 3.6 million births in the US in 2025.
The executive orders also limit the rights of children born to foreign government employees in the US and children of people who are classified as alien enemies.
The orders could also affect people born in US territories, should Congress enact a proposed law to end automatic citizenship there.
Trump’s new orders are likely to be challenged in court.
“A VERY UNFORTUNATE DECISION”
“We had a very unfortunate decision in the Supreme Court concerning birthright. It was close, but a very, very unfortunate decision,” Trump said of the 6-3 vote.
“People are building businesses around it,” he said.
“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,” he said.
Trump’s prior executive order, issued on his first day in office in 2025 as part of a suite of policies to crack down on immigration, directed US agencies not to recognise the citizenship of children born in the United States if neither parent is an American citizen or legal permanent resident, also called a “green card” holder – barring babies of immigrants in the US illegally or temporarily.
The 14th Amendment has long been interpreted as guaranteeing citizenship for babies born in the US with only narrow exceptions such as the children of foreign diplomats or members of an enemy occupying force.
“This was done for a different reason. This was done right after the Civil War. This was for the babies of slaves, and what’s happening now?” Trump said in his White House remarks on Thursday.
There are no official figures tallying the number of foreigners who come to the US for the explicit purpose of giving birth and obtaining citizenship for their children, or the cost to taxpayers.
In any case, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the Supreme Court ruling that the authors of the 14th Amendment extended that promise to every free-born person in the land.
“Citizenship, then and now, was the right to have rights – to freely participate in our political community. We keep that promise today,” Roberts wrote.
The 14th Amendment provision known as the Citizenship Clause states: “All persons born or naturalised in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside.”
No US law outright bars birth tourism, but a federal regulation implemented in 2020 during Trump’s first term prohibits using temporary tourist and business visas for the primary purpose of obtaining US citizenship for a newborn. People who engage in birth tourism schemes could be prosecuted for fraud or other related crimes.
Source: Reuters/ec
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