Trump Issues New Executive Order Restricting Birthright Citizenship

On Friday, August 7th, 2026, former President Donald Trump issued a new executive order aimed at limiting birthright citizenship in the United States. This follows a June ruling by the Supreme Court that struck down an earlier, broader executive order by Trump which sought to deny 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 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 under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) and Executive Order 13224 of September 23, 2001.
• Children born in U.S. territories or territorial waters where citizenship is not conferred by federal statute, notably American Samoa.

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

Reason notes that no part of the United States has been invaded or occupied since World War II, underscoring the limited applicability of the "alien enemies" category.

This new executive order is considered unconstitutional by legal experts, despite its narrower scope compared to the previous order invalidated by the Supreme Court.

Sources

• Reason, Ilya Somin, "Trump Issues Another Unconstitutional Executive Order Targeting Birthright Citizenship," August 7, 2026, link