On Thursday, August 7th, 2026, President Donald Trump signed two executive orders aimed at narrowly restricting birthright citizenship in the United States. These actions come just over a month after the Supreme Court upheld birthright citizenship in the case Trump v. Barbara.

The first executive order identifies certain groups whose children would not be eligible for citizenship at birth. It excludes children born to parents deemed "alien enemies" by the government, "foreign government employees," or those who have "engaged in a commercial transaction" to obtain birthright citizenship. It also excludes children born in U.S. territories where citizenship is not conferred by federal statute, as well as children of persons employed by international organizations with immunity and ambassadors—groups already generally not subject to U.S. jurisdiction.

The second order addresses "birth tourism," where individuals travel to the U.S. specifically to give birth and secure citizenship for their child. This order delegates authority to the Secretary of State and Secretary of Homeland Security to halt this practice. The U.S. government already has visa denial powers and has prosecuted birth tourism schemes, including under the Biden administration.

Despite the White House's claim that these measures will "protect the meaning and value of American citizenship," legal analysts argue the orders combine unconstitutional provisions with symbolic gestures unlikely to have significant legal effect. The Framers of the Fourteenth Amendment extended birthright citizenship to "every free-born person in this land," a principle reaffirmed by the Supreme Court.

(Photo credit: Denis Shevchuk/Elnur/Dreamstime; Illustration credit: Fatima Ruiz, Midjourney)

Sources

  • Reason, Billy Binion, "Trump's new birthright citizenship executive orders are mostly theater," August 7, 2026, link