Washington — On Thursday, August 7th, 2026, President Trump signed two executive orders in a renewed effort to restrict birthright citizenship for certain children born in the United States. This move follows the Supreme Court's June ruling that struck down his earlier executive order attempting to end birthright citizenship.

One of the new orders targets individuals involved in commercial "birth tourism," seeking to deny them access to the country. The order specifically lists categories of people deemed ineligible for citizenship documents, including children born to mothers who were present in the U.S. through commercial transactions arranged to ensure childbirth on American soil.

The second order broadens the definition of those ineligible for birthright citizenship, including children of foreign citizens who lobby on behalf of foreign governments.

White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller described birth tourism as a long-standing issue: "This has been something that people have talked about, not only for years, but for decades." He elaborated, "The idea that people come here pretending to be a tourist, pretending to be a visitor, saying they want to go to Disneyland or they want to go visit a monument or go to a national park, but the real reason they're here is to have a child, to make that child an automatic citizen, leave our country, and then have a U.S. citizen child."

President Trump commented on the Supreme Court decision, calling it "very unfortunate" and said, "So we're making adjustments."

However, civil rights advocates remain critical. Cody Wofsy, deputy director of the ACLU's Immigrants' Rights Project, stated, "Any executive order that tries to rewrite birthright citizenship will meet the same fate as the last one."

During related legal discussions, Chief Justice John Roberts told U.S. Solicitor General John Sauer, "You do agree that that has no impact on the legal analysis before us." Sauer noted that birth tourism highlights the negative effects of the current interpretation of the Citizenship Clause, adding, "We're in a new world now … where 8 billion people are one plane ride away from having a child who is a U.S. citizen."

These executive orders mark the latest chapter in the ongoing debate over the scope of birthright citizenship in the United States.

Sources