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

The first executive order identifies specific groups whose children would be ineligible 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 for their child. It also excludes children born in U.S. territories or territorial waters where citizenship is not granted by federal statute. Additionally, it mentions children of persons employed by international organizations with immunity and ambassadors, despite the fact that children of diplomats with full immunity already do not receive birthright citizenship because they are not "subject to the jurisdiction" of the United States.

The second order addresses "birth tourism," where some women travel to the U.S. solely to give birth on American soil. This order delegates presidential authority to the Secretary of State and Secretary of Homeland Security to halt birth tourism practices. However, the U.S. government already has the power to deny visas to applicants suspected of intending to give birth in the country and has prosecuted birth tourism operators, including during President Joe Biden's administration.

The White House claims these measures will "protect the meaning and value of American citizenship." However, critics argue that the orders combine unconstitutional provisions with what amounts to political theater and will have little practical effect.

The Framers of the Fourteenth Amendment extended citizenship to "every free-born person in this land," a principle reaffirmed by the Supreme Court recently. Given this legal backdrop, the new executive orders face significant constitutional hurdles.

(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