On Thursday, August 7th, 2026, President Donald Trump signed two executive orders aimed at narrowly restricting birthright citizenship in the United States. These actions follow a recent Supreme Court ruling in Trump v. Barbara, which upheld birthright citizenship, striking down a broader attempt by Trump to limit it.

The first executive order identifies specific groups whose children would not be eligible for citizenship at birth. These include children born to parents deemed "alien enemies," "foreign government employees," or those who have "engaged in a commercial transaction" to secure citizenship for their child. It also excludes children born in U.S. territories or territorial waters where citizenship is not granted by federal statute. The order further mentions children of persons employed by international organizations with immunity and ambassadors, though such children already do not receive birthright citizenship due to diplomatic immunity.

The second order addresses "birth tourism," where some women travel to the U.S. solely to give birth and secure citizenship for their child. It delegates authority to the Secretary of State and Secretary of Homeland Security to halt this practice. However, the U.S. government already possesses the power to deny visas to applicants suspected of intending to give birth in the country and has prosecuted birth tourism operators, including during the Biden administration.

Despite the White House's claim that these measures will "protect the meaning and value of American citizenship," experts argue the orders largely amount to "performance art" with limited legal effect, combining unconstitutional provisions that are unlikely to withstand judicial scrutiny. The Framers of the Fourteenth Amendment extended birthright citizenship to "every free-born person in this land," a principle reaffirmed by the Supreme Court.

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