On Friday, August 7th, 2026, former President Donald Trump issued a new executive order aimed at narrowing birthright citizenship in the United States. This follows the Supreme Court's June ruling against his previous, broader order that denied citizenship to children born in the U.S. to undocumented immigrants and non-citizen parents on temporary visas.

The new order restricts birthright citizenship for four categories of children, including those born to "alien enemies," defined as children with at least one parent designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization under 8 U.S.C. 1189 or as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and Executive Order 13224. It also excludes children born in U.S. territories or territorial waters where citizenship is not granted by federal statute, notably American Samoa.

Except for children of foreign-government employees with diplomatic immunity, all affected children are entitled to birthright citizenship under the Citizenship Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, as interpreted by the Supreme Court in Trump v. Barbara. 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.

Legal analysis suggests the new executive order is also unconstitutional despite its narrower scope compared to the previous one.

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