Trump Issues New Executive Orders to Limit Birthright Citizenship
US President Donald Trump has renewed efforts to restrict birthright citizenship in America. Earlier, the Supreme Court rejected his initial attempt. On Thursday, Trump signed two new executive orders clarifying circumstances under which children born in the US would not automatically be granted citizenship. These orders specify cases where children born on US soil would not be considered American citizens.
The second order targets the practice of ‘birth tourism,’ where pregnant foreign women come to the US to give birth. “This move should have been taken years ago, but we are implementing it now,” Trump said from the White House. He sharply criticized the Supreme Court for rejecting his administration’s attempt to end the 150-year-old birthright citizenship policy. “My administration will protect our citizens from those malicious foreign actors who seek to exploit our generosity,” states the first executive order.
According to the orders, children born to parents who are not US citizens will not automatically receive citizenship if either parent is affiliated with a foreign terrorist organization, employed by a foreign government, involved in immigration fraud, or residing unlawfully in federal territories where citizenship cannot be granted under US law. Trump and his administration have long criticized ‘birth tourism,’ accusing citizens, particularly from Russia and China, of abusing the birthright citizenship system.
Announcing the orders from the Oval Office on Thursday, Trump claimed that hundreds of thousands of babies are born annually in the US through ‘birth tourism.’ However, independent research from the Migration Policy Institute, based on census data, indicates that only about 22,000 to 26,000 such births occur each year. “People come to the US for visits and meetings, but their real intent is to give birth here and obtain US citizenship for their children,” said Stephen Miller, Homeland Security Advisor, accompanying Trump. He added that these children receive government benefits, voting rights, and other privileges exclusive to American citizens. Miller noted that a provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act grants the president authority to impose entry restrictions into the US.
In early 2025, at the beginning of his second term, Trump had signed an executive order aiming to end the birthright citizenship guaranteed under the 14th Amendment of the US Constitution. The legal dispute arising from this effort eventually reached the Supreme Court, which ruled that the Trump administration’s restrictions on birthright citizenship could not be enforced. The decision was considered a significant setback to Trump’s continuous push for stricter immigration policies. From the Oval Office on Thursday, Trump called the Supreme Court’s ruling “bad and unfair,” claiming the nation has since faced problems. “Now, we will stop this in another way,” he added.