Trump Issues New Executive Order Limiting Birthright Citizenship

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

The new order narrows its focus, denying birthright citizenship to four specific categories of children:

• 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 and Executive Order 13224 (which blocks property and prohibits transactions with persons who commit or support terrorism).
• Children born in U.S. territories or territorial waters where citizenship is not granted by federal statute, notably American Samoa.

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

The executive order is considered unconstitutional by legal experts, echoing the Supreme Court's earlier ruling. The affected groups are smaller than those targeted by the previous order, but the constitutional issues remain unresolved.

Sources

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