Trump Issues New Executive Order Challenging Birthright Citizenship

On Friday, August 7th, 2026, former President Donald Trump issued a new executive order seeking to narrow the scope of birthright citizenship in the United States. This order follows a June ruling by the Supreme Court in Trump v. Barbara, which struck down an earlier, broader executive order by Trump that denied birthright citizenship to children born in the U.S. to undocumented immigrants and those on temporary visas.

The latest order targets four specific categories of children, denying them birthright citizenship:

• Children of "alien enemies," defined as those with at least one non-citizen parent designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization under 8 U.S.C. 1189 or as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist, consistent with the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) and Executive Order 13224 (September 23, 2001), which blocks property and prohibits transactions with persons who commit, threaten to commit, or support terrorism.
• Children born in U.S. territories or territorial waters where citizenship is not conferred by federal statute, notably American Samoa, the only populated U.S. territory whose residents have not been granted citizenship by Congress.

With the exception of children of foreign-government employees with diplomatic immunity, these children are entitled to birthright citizenship under the Citizenship Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The Supreme Court in Trump v. Barbara clarified that the clause grants citizenship to all children "born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof," which includes children of all persons required to obey U.S. law.

The new executive order affects a smaller group than the previous one but remains constitutionally controversial. No part of the United States has been invaded or occupied since World War II, a condition sometimes cited in arguments about birthright citizenship exceptions.

Sources

• Ilya Somin, Reason: Trump Issues Another Unconstitutional Executive Order Targeting Birthright Citizenship