US President Donald Trump has renewed his campaign to restrict birthright citizenship, signing two executive orders aimed at narrowing automatic citizenship for some children born in the United States and targeting so-called “birth tourism”.
The orders, signed on 6 August, come just weeks after the US Supreme Court rejected Trump’s earlier attempt to broadly deny citizenship to children born in the United States to undocumented immigrants and certain temporary visa holders.
The latest directives take a narrower approach. One seeks to identify additional categories of children whom the administration argues are not entitled to birthright citizenship under historical exceptions to the 14th Amendment.
The second order directs the US State Department and Department of Homeland Security to take action against “birth tourism” — the practice of foreign nationals travelling to the United States on non-immigrant visas with the intention of giving birth so their children acquire US citizenship.
Trump has made ending birthright citizenship a major component of his immigration agenda. Speaking after signing the orders, he criticised the Supreme Court’s recent decision, calling it “very unfair” and saying his administration was making adjustments.
The White House said the new measures are intended to protect the “meaning and value” of American citizenship and prevent foreign nationals from exploiting US immigration laws.
Under the birth-tourism order, federal agencies have been directed to develop measures that could include denying visas or entry to people believed to be travelling to the US for the purpose of giving birth. The order also allows for visa revocation and other action against individuals or organisations involved in facilitating such schemes.
The administration argues that birth tourism undermines the integrity of the immigration system by allowing temporary visitors to obtain long-term immigration benefits through their children.
However, the scale of the practice is disputed. Estimates cited by the Migration Policy Institute have put birth tourism at between 22,000 and 26,000 births a year, while government data recorded about 9,600 births in 2024 to mothers with foreign addresses — a small fraction of births in the United States.
The new orders are also likely to face legal challenges.
Trump’s earlier attempt to restrict birthright citizenship was blocked after the Supreme Court ruled in June that the Constitution protects citizenship for nearly everyone born on US soil. The new orders appear designed to test the boundaries of that ruling by relying on historical exceptions and narrower categories of people.
Civil liberties groups have already criticised the latest move. The American Civil Liberties Union said the Constitution guarantees birthright citizenship and argued that another executive order cannot change its meaning.
The White House, however, maintains that the Supreme Court recognised historical exceptions to birthright citizenship and that the administration is entitled to enforce those limitations.
The legal battle could therefore shift from Trump’s original broad attempt to end birthright citizenship towards a narrower dispute over which categories of children fall outside the constitutional guarantee.
For immigrant families and foreign nationals, the outcome could have significant implications, particularly for those travelling to the United States on temporary visas and for families with complex immigration circumstances.
The orders mark the latest escalation in Trump’s broader effort to reshape the US immigration system and redefine who qualifies for the rights and privileges associated with American citizenship.
Support our Journalism
No-nonsense journalism. No paywalls. Whether you’re in Australia, the UK, Canada, the USA, or India, you can support The Australia Today by taking a paid subscription via Patreon or donating via PayPal — and help keep honest, fearless journalism alive.
