President Donald Trump signed two executive orders Thursday aimed at limiting birthright citizenship, an action he described as an adjustment following a Supreme Court decision that upheld the 14th Amendment. The orders seek to undermine the court's ruling by expanding the definition of who is ineligible for birthright citizenship.
Trump stated that the Supreme Court's decision was "very unfortunate" and that "our country suffers because of it." The executive orders target individuals deemed "alien enemies," such as members of foreign terrorist organizations, and children of foreign diplomatic staff working for another government. The president also expressed a desire to revoke birthright citizenship for those born in U.S. territories, such as Puerto Rico, but noted that this would require congressional approval, and a related bill is not expected to pass.
These actions follow a 6-3 Supreme Court ruling last month that struck down a previous executive order Trump had signed on his first day in his second term, which aimed to revoke birthright citizenship for children of undocumented immigrants. Administration officials argued that the court's ruling still allows Trump to limit birthright citizenship under certain recognized exceptions.
During the signing ceremony, Trump and White House deputy chief of staff for policy Stephen Miller reiterated arguments that birthright citizenship was established after the Civil War to ensure citizenship for children of enslaved people. However, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, in her dissenting opinion, argued against this interpretation, stating that "this alternative account pitches Black Americans against immigrants when the advocates who promoted the Fourteenth Amendment did no such thing."
Regarding the "birth tourism" industry, Miller characterized the new regulations as one of Trump's most significant actions, aiming to end what he called "one of the gravest and most egregious abuses of the American system." The Center for Immigration Studies estimated in 2020 that between 20,000 and 26,000 babies were born from "birth tourism" annually, accounting for less than 1% of U.S. births. U.S. law already prohibits obtaining a visa for the primary purpose of giving birth in the United States to obtain citizenship for a child.
The executive orders grant presidential authorities to the Secretary of State and Secretary of Homeland Security to prevent tourism births. Trump indicated that further "very big crackdowns" are planned to limit such practices, though he did not provide specific details.