Key facts
- President Donald Trump signed executive orders targeting birthright citizenship.
- The orders aim to restrict citizenship for children born in the U.S. to non-citizens, especially 'birth tourists'.
- One order seeks to deny citizenship if parents engaged in fraudulent activity.
- Another order attempts to bar visas for suspected birth tourists.
- Legal experts anticipate these orders will face significant legal challenges.
- A prior attempt by Trump to curtail birthright citizenship was struck down by the Supreme Court.
President Donald Trump has signed two executive orders aimed at restricting birthright citizenship, a right guaranteed by the 14th Amendment. The orders specifically target 'birth tourism,' a practice where individuals travel to the U.S. primarily to give birth and obtain citizenship for their child.
One executive order directs federal agencies to deny citizenship to children if either parent is found to have engaged in fraudulent activity to secure U.S. citizenship. A second order seeks to bar visas for foreigners suspected of engaging in birth tourism, though its enforcement mechanism remains unclear. Legal experts widely anticipate that these new measures will face substantial legal challenges and are likely to be deemed unconstitutional, similar to a previous attempt by the Trump administration.
The Supreme Court previously struck down an executive order by Trump that sought to curtail birthright citizenship, ruling that the 14th Amendment's clause stating that all persons born or naturalized in the U.S. and subject to its jurisdiction are citizens, applies broadly. Justice Samuel Alito, in his dissent, expressed concern that the ruling would cover children born to 'birth tourists.'
While the core aspect of targeting birth tourism is expected to fail legal scrutiny, some scholars suggest that certain expansions of historical exceptions to birthright citizenship, such as for children of diplomatic representatives or foreign government employees, might be legally permissible depending on their implementation. However, others caution that such expansions could also face constitutional challenges.