Washington — On Thursday, August 7th, 2026, President Trump signed two executive orders in a renewed effort to limit birthright citizenship for certain children born in the United States. This move follows the Supreme Court's decision in June to strike 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 other order broadens the categories of people deemed 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, 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."

One order specifies that children born to mothers who engaged in a commercial transaction to ensure their presence in the U.S. or its territories for childbirth should not be granted citizenship documents.

However, Cody Wofsy, deputy director of the ACLU's Immigrants' Rights Project, responded that any executive order attempting to alter birthright citizenship will face the same legal challenges as the previous one.

During related Supreme Court discussions, Chief Justice John Roberts told U.S. Solicitor General John Sauer that birth tourism does not affect the legal analysis before the court. Sauer noted, "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," highlighting the implications of the current interpretation of the Citizenship Clause.

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

Sources