Donald Trump has signed two executive orders targeting birthright citizenship and birth tourism, weeks after the Supreme Court ruling on his earlier order.
US President Donald Trump is once again seeking to change the rules surrounding birthright citizenship in the United States. Just weeks after the Supreme Court ruled on his earlier attempt to end birthright citizenship, Trump signed two executive orders on August 6 targeting birthright citizenship and so-called birth tourism.(1✔ ✔Trusted Source
Trump signs new orders targeting birthright citizenship, weeks after Supreme Court rulingBirthright and immigration related
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The first order seeks to exclude certain babies from automatic US citizenship, while the second targets people suspected of traveling to the United States specifically to give birth so their children can receive US citizenship.
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What Does Trump’s New Birthright Citizenship Order Say?
The first order, titled “Continuing to Protect the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship,” aims to exclude babies born to employees working for foreign governments, including foreign nationals working at embassies or consulates.
The order also seeks to exclude children of members of foreign terrorist groups and children whose parents are described as being “engaged in fraudulent activity to obtain citizenship.”
The move follows Trump’s earlier executive order, issued on the first day of his second term, which sought to end birthright citizenship for babies born to parents who were in the US illegally or on temporary visas.
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What Is Birth Tourism in the United States?
The Department of Justice has previously prosecuted businesses that charge for “birth tourism” services. The term refers to the controversial practice of pregnant women misrepresenting their reason for traveling to the US in order to give birth there so their newborn can receive automatic citizenship.
The scale of birth tourism remains unclear. Estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicate that fewer than 10,000 babies were born in the US to foreign residents in 2024.
Meanwhile, the Center for Immigration Studies, which supports restricting immigration, estimates that temporary visitors gave birth to about 70,000 babies in 2023.
Both estimates suggest that tourist births account for less than 2% of the approximately 3.6 million babies born in the US every year.
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How Will Trump’s Birth Tourism Order Affect Visas?
Trump’s second executive order, titled “Ending Birth Tourism,” directs the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Homeland Security to prioritize the issue by denying visas to anyone suspected of engaging in the practice.
Senior White House adviser Stephen Miller described the crackdown as one of the most important immigration reforms undertaken by the Trump administration.
“It ends what has been one of the gravest and most egregious abuses of the American system, and it keeps American citizenship sacred,” he said Thursday during the Oval Office signing.
What Did the Supreme Court Say About Birthright Citizenship?
In June, the Supreme Court struck down Trump’s earlier birthright citizenship order, reaffirming that birthright citizenship is guaranteed by the 14th Amendment.
The American Civil Liberties Union, which argued for birthright citizenship in the recent Supreme Court case, rejected the Trump administration’s latest efforts to limit the constitutional guarantee.
“Any executive order that tries to rewrite birthright citizenship will meet the same fate as the last one,” Cody Wofsy, deputy director of the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project, said in a statement.
David Bier, an immigration policy analyst with the Cato Institute, said the executive orders were “blatantly ignoring the Supreme Court’s decision.”
“This is a situation where you would hope that the Supreme Court would step in very quickly to enforce its prior decision,” he added.
White House staff secretary Will Scharf said the administration was taking “legally validated means.”
“There’s absolutely nothing in here that runs afoul of any of the Supreme Court’s opinions on the subject,” he said.
The latest orders place birthright citizenship and birth tourism at the center of the US immigration debate once again. The administration says the measures will strengthen immigration enforcement, while critics question whether attempts to restrict birthright citizenship can withstand constitutional challenges. The legal and policy debate is continuing as the new measures move toward implementation and potential further legal challenges.
References:
- NPR. Trump signs new orders targeting birthright citizenship, weeks after Supreme Court ruling. August 7, 2026. (https://www.npr.org/2026/08/06/g-s1-137686/trump-birthright-citizenship-immigration-curb)
Source-NPR