Friday, 7 August 2026, 22:00
President Donald Trump signed two new executive orders on Aug. 6, 2026, in another attempt to limit birthright citizenship. The orders follow a Supreme Court decision that rejected his earlier, broader crackdown. Immigration experts and civil liberties groups say the latest move may not change much.
One order directs the State Department not to issue citizenship documents for children born to foreign employees of foreign governments, members of terrorist organizations, and people who lobby on behalf of foreign governments. The second order tells the State and Homeland Security departments to limit people from traveling to the U.S. specifically to give birth. That order asks agencies to update rules and policies, but does not specify enforcement mechanisms.
White House policy chief Stephen Miller called the birth tourism order historic and necessary. "People come here, pretend to be a tourist, pretend to be a visitor, say they want to go to Disneyland... But the real reason they're here is to have a child, to make that child automatic citizen," Miller said.
Erin Corcoran, a professor at Notre Dame's Keough School of Global Affairs, said the orders mostly restate existing law. "It's just restating the law. They may try to do more enforcement with it, but it doesn't change the law," she said. "I don't think it's anything new; it's just him trying to get around the statutes or congressional action."
The ACLU, which represented immigrants in the Supreme Court case, said the new orders will be rejected. "The Supreme Court already decided this issue: Birthright citizenship is guaranteed by the Constitution," the group said.
Weeks earlier, the Supreme Court struck down Trump's more sweeping order that sought to deny citizenship to any child whose parents were not in the country legally. Five of the six justices who ruled against Trump said the original order violated the 14th Amendment. Justice Brett Kavanaugh said it violated a federal statute, not the Constitution.
The administration argues birthright citizenship is widely abused. But there is little official data on birth tourism. The Migration Policy Institute estimates 9,600 children were born to mothers with a foreign address in 2024, with the true number potentially as high as 26,000 out of 3.6 million total live births. The government does not have official data on the prevalence of birth tourism.
California has one of the largest immigrant populations in the nation, so any change to citizenship policy is closely watched here. However, the new executive orders do not name California and their practical effect remains unclear. Legal challenges are likely to determine whether families in the state could be affected.
Birthright citizenship became law in 1868 with the ratification of the 14th Amendment after the Civil War. In 1898, the Supreme Court ruled that a man born in the U.S. to Chinese parents had a right to U.S. citizenship. Trump has criticized the policy for years, arguing it encourages illegal immigration and is exploited by wealthy foreigners.
Trump called the Supreme Court's decision "very unfair" and said he is ending birthright citizenship "a different way." But the new orders are almost certain to be challenged in court. For now, the 14th Amendment remains the law of the land.
