Trump Issues New Executive Order Narrowing Birthright Citizenship

On August 7, 2026, former President Donald Trump issued a new executive order aimed at restricting birthright citizenship in the United States. This order follows the Supreme Court's June ruling in Trump v. Barbara, which invalidated an earlier, broader executive order that denied birthright citizenship to children born in the U.S. to undocumented immigrants and non-citizen parents on temporary visas.

The new executive order narrows its scope but still denies birthright citizenship to four specific categories of children:

• Children of "alien enemies," defined as those with at least one 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 including American Samoa, the only populated U.S. territory whose residents have not been granted citizenship by Congress.

Except for children of foreign-government employees with diplomatic immunity, all children in these categories are entitled to birthright citizenship under the Citizenship Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The 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 order has been described as unconstitutional, similar to the previous one, despite affecting a smaller group of children. No part of the United States has been invaded or occupied since World War II, a context relevant to the interpretation of jurisdiction under the Citizenship Clause.

Sources

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