President Trump signed two executive orders Thursday targeting birthright citizenship through a different legal pathway, weeks after the Supreme Court blocked his previous attempt to eliminate the constitutional right entirely.
New Strategy Targets Specific Categories
The first executive order expands definitions of non-citizens whose children cannot claim automatic citizenship. Babies born to two non-citizen parents now face exclusion if one parent works for a foreign government, belongs to a terrorist organization, attempted fraudulent citizenship applications, or resides in certain U.S. territories. The order represents a narrower approach than Trump’s January 2025 directive that attempted to end birthright citizenship completely under the 14th Amendment.
Trump criticized the Supreme Court’s June decision from the Oval Office, calling it a “bad decision, very unfair decision.” He added that “our country suffers because of it, and we’re ending in a different way.” The Court’s ruling was a significant defeat for Trump’s immigration agenda earlier this year.
Birth Tourism Ban Takes Effect
The second order prohibits so-called birth tourism, where foreign mothers travel to America specifically to deliver babies who gain automatic citizenship. White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller stood beside Trump explaining the practice: mothers “come here pretending to be a tourist” but actually intend to birth American citizen children who later access welfare benefits and voting rights.
Trump claimed hundreds of thousands of babies result from birth tourism annually. However, the Migration Policy Institute estimates only 22,000 to 26,000 such births yearly using census data, while government records showed just 9,600 births to mothers with foreign addresses in 2024. Miller cited the Immigration and Nationality Act as legal authority, which grants presidents power to set entry restrictions and exceptions.
Constitutional Questions Remain
Legal experts identify potential constitutional problems despite the narrower scope. Gabriel Chin, a University of California Davis law professor, told reporters the president possesses some authority restricting people entering solely for childbirth purposes. But he emphasized that “once a child is born in the United States,” different constitutional protections apply. Trump and administration officials have repeatedly accused Russian and Chinese nationals of exploiting birthright citizenship policies to infiltrate America, though they provided limited documentation supporting these claims.