On Friday, August 7th, 2026, former President Donald Trump issued a new executive order aimed at narrowing birthright citizenship in the United States. This order follows a June Supreme Court decision that struck down an earlier Trump executive order denying citizenship to children born in the U.S. to undocumented immigrants and non-citizen parents on temporary visas.

The new order denies birthright citizenship to four categories of children, including those born to "alien enemies." This term is defined as children with at least one non-citizen parent designated as part of a Foreign Terrorist Organization under 8 U.S.C. 1189 or as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) and Executive Order 13224 of September 23, 2001, which blocks property and prohibits transactions with persons who commit or support terrorism.

Additionally, the order excludes children born in U.S. territories or territorial waters where citizenship is not granted by federal statute, which appears to apply primarily to American Samoa. With the exception of children of foreign-government employees with diplomatic immunity, the affected children are generally entitled to birthright citizenship under the Citizenship Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, as interpreted by the Supreme Court in the recent Trump v. Barbara case.

The Citizenship Clause guarantees citizenship to all children "born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof." The Supreme Court clarified that this includes children of all persons subject to U.S. law. The new executive order, while narrower in scope than the previous one, is also considered unconstitutional by legal experts.

No part of the United States has been invaded or occupied since World War II, a point relevant to the interpretation of jurisdiction under the Citizenship Clause.

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