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

One of the new orders targets individuals involved in commercial "birth tourism," seeking to deny them entry into the country. The order specifies categories of people ineligible for citizenship documents, including children born to mothers brought to the U.S. through commercial transactions intended solely for childbirth.

White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller described birth tourism as a long-standing issue, stating, "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."

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

President Trump commented on the Supreme Court decision, saying, "We had a very unfortunate decision in the Supreme Court concerning birthright, it was close," and added, "But a very, very unfortunate decision. So we're making adjustments."

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) responded critically. 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 negative effects of the current interpretation of the Citizenship Clause, saying, "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."

The debate continues over the implications of birthright citizenship and the government's authority to redefine its scope through executive action.

Sources