U.S. President Donald Trump has signed two new executive orders aimed at restricting birthright citizenship and curbing ‘birth tourism.’ The orders include provisions denying citizenship to children born in the U.S. to foreign parents, which Trump claims will help prevent exploitation of the immigration system. Legal expert Gabriel Chin has argued that several provisions within Trump’s orders raise serious constitutional questions, potentially making them legally unsustainable. (Washington, August 8)
President Trump is advancing his efforts to limit birthright citizenship in a new form following the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent ruling that struck down his previous attempt as unconstitutional. On Thursday, he signed two fresh executive orders: the first expands the circumstances under which children born in the United States would not automatically receive citizenship, while the second bans the practice known as ‘birth tourism,’ where foreigners travel to the U.S. specifically to give birth and secure citizenship for their child.
Speaking from the Oval Office, Trump said, “This should have been done many years ago, and now we are implementing it.” He expressed dissatisfaction with the Supreme Court’s earlier ruling invalidating his prior executive order. Under the first order, children born to parents who are not U.S. citizens will not receive automatic citizenship if one parent is affiliated with foreign terrorist organizations, is a foreign government official, has attempted to fraudulently obtain citizenship, or resides in U.S. territories where citizenship is not automatically granted under federal law.
The Trump administration has particularly accused citizens of Russia and China of exploiting birthright citizenship provisions to expand their influence in the U.S. While Trump claimed on Thursday that hundreds of thousands of children are born in the U.S. each year through ‘birth tourism,’ non-partisan research from the Migration Policy Institute estimates the actual figure to be between 22,000 and 26,000 annually. White House Deputy Chief of Staff and Homeland Security Advisor Stephen Miller asserted that some individuals enter the U.S. as tourists or visitors with the primary intent of giving birth to obtain American citizenship for their child.
After starting his second term in 2025, Trump had issued an executive order to end birthright citizenship guaranteed by the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. However, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in June against enforcing that order, preserving the existing birthright citizenship provisions. On Thursday, Trump condemned the Supreme Court’s decision as “unjust and incorrect” and stated he was pursuing alternative avenues to achieve his goal. Nonetheless, legal scholar Gabriel Chin noted that while some aspects of the new orders might withstand legal scrutiny, certain provisions pose significant constitutional challenges.
