US President Donald Trump signed two executive orders aimed at further restricting birthright citizenship, thereby renewing his immigration crackdown weeks after the Supreme Court rejected his earlier attempt as unconstitutional.
The new orders adopt a narrower approach than Trump’s previous directive and target specific categories that the administration argues are not protected under the Citizenship Clause of the 14th Amendment. These include children born to people travelling to the United States for “birth tourism”, children of foreign government employees in the US, and children of individuals classified as alien enemies.
The orders could also affect people born in US territories if Congress enacts proposed legislation ending automatic citizenship there.
The White House said that the latest directives do not violate the Supreme Court’s June 30 ruling, as they apply to groups the administration argues fall outside the constitutional guarantee of birthright citizenship.
“That practice of birth tourism is, as of the signing of this order, hereby banned. What that means is that no one in the world is anymore allowed to obtain a visa for this fraudulent purpose,” White House aide Stephen Miller said at the signing ceremony in the Oval Office.
The executive orders are expected to face immediate legal challenges. Restricting birthright citizenship has remained a central priority of Trump’s immigration agenda, with the administration concentrating on what it terms “birth tourism”, the practice in which pregnant foreign nationals travel to the United States to give birth.
According to a 2020 estimate by the Center for Immigration Studies, between 20,000 and 25,000 mothers travelled to the US for birth tourism during a one-year period between 2016 and 2017. The United States recorded 3.6 million births in 2025. Trump criticised the Supreme Court’s 6-3 decision that upheld birthright citizenship protections.
“We had a very unfortunate decision in the Supreme Court concerning birthright. It was close, but a very, very unfortunate decision,” Trump said.
“People are building businesses around it,” he said. “That’s not the way it’s supposed to work. It’s a disgrace. They’re buying their way in, and we’re not going to let it happen,” he said.
Trump also contended that the Citizenship Clause was adopted in a different historical context.
“This was done for a different reason. This was done right after the Civil War. This was for the babies of slaves, and what’s happening now?” Trump said in his White House remarks on Thursday.
