Trump Issues New Executive Order Restricting Birthright Citizenship

Former President Donald Trump has issued a new executive order aimed at limiting birthright citizenship in the United States. This order follows a June Supreme Court ruling in Trump v. Barbara, which 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 targets four specific categories of children, denying them birthright citizenship:

• 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 (2001), which blocks property and prohibits transactions with persons supporting terrorism.
• Children born in U.S. territories or territorial waters where citizenship is not granted by federal statute, notably American Samoa.
• Children of foreign-government employees with diplomatic immunity are exempted from this order.

According to the Citizenship Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, all children born or naturalized in the United States and subject to its jurisdiction are entitled to citizenship. The Supreme Court in Trump v. Barbara affirmed that this includes children of all persons subject to U.S. law. The new executive order, therefore, is considered unconstitutional by legal experts, as it excludes groups traditionally covered under the Citizenship Clause.

No part of the United States has been invaded or occupied since World War II, a fact relevant to the interpretation of "alien enemies" in this context.

Sources

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