Trump Issues New Executive Order Restricting 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 a previous one invalidated by the Supreme Court in the case Trump v. Barbara, which had sought to deny citizenship to children born in the U.S. to undocumented immigrants and non-citizen parents on temporary visas.

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

• Children of "alien enemies," where at least one parent is 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 (2001), which blocks property and prohibits transactions with persons involved in terrorism.
• 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, these groups are generally 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 order has been described as unconstitutional, similar to the previous one, though it affects a smaller group of children. No part of the United States has been invaded or occupied since World War II, a condition sometimes cited in arguments about jurisdiction.

Sources

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