Trump Signs Two Orders on Birthright Citizenship After Supreme Court Rejection

President Donald Trump signed two executive orders Thursday targeting birthright citizenship and what his administration calls birth tourism. The orders come five weeks after the Supreme Court rejected Trump’s first attempt to restrict birthright citizenship in a 6-3 decision. One order narrows eligibility for birthright citizenship, while the second directs the State Department and Department of Homeland Security to block visas for people intending to give birth in the US. The ACLU immediately challenged the legal reasoning, predicting the orders will meet the same fate as the previous one.

What the new orders do

Trump’s first order targets children born in the US to non-citizens and temporary visitors. It identifies categories of children ineligible for birthright citizenship based on parental status, including cases where a parent is a foreign government employee or designated terrorist. The second order directs federal agencies to deny visas to people identified as birth tourists and to stop recognizing citizenship for children born under those circumstances. White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller said the government will distinguish birth tourists from regular tourists by examining stated intent versus actual purpose.

The Supreme Court’s June decision

In June 2026, the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in Trump v. Barbara that birthright citizenship is guaranteed by the 14th Amendment, adopted after the Civil War. The court upheld a broad conception of birthright citizenship, extending it to children born to parents in the US for whom no extraterritorial fiction applies. Trump’s administration had argued that children born to illegal immigrants or temporary visitors should not automatically become citizens. The close 6-3 vote concerned immigration advocates who viewed the issue as long settled.

Legal challenges ahead

The ACLU’s deputy director of the Immigrants’ Rights Project, Cody Wofsy, said the new orders will not survive court review. The ACLU stated that the Supreme Court already decided the issue and no executive order can change the Constitution’s meaning. Lower courts blocked Trump’s first executive order before it took effect. The new orders face similar legal obstacles, as they attempt to narrow a right the Supreme Court has now twice affirmed.

Disputed scale of birth tourism

Trump claimed hundreds of thousands of people exploit birth tourism annually. However, Trump’s own Solicitor General John Sauer told the Supreme Court in April that no one knows the exact number, citing media reports of estimates ranging from 1.1 million to 1.5 million from China alone. Congressional reports mention specific hotspots like Russian elites in Miami but provide no definitive national figures. The uncertainty about scale underscores the debate over whether birth tourism is a widespread problem or a narrow concern.

Final Thoughts

Trump’s new orders represent another attempt to restrict a constitutional right the Supreme Court has now affirmed twice. Legal experts expect swift court challenges and rejection. The orders signal Trump’s continued pursuit of a goal he has championed for over a decade despite judicial setbacks.

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