Trump Signs Executive Orders Narrowing Birthright Citizenship Categories and Restricting Birth Tourism

In the Oval Office on Thursday, President Trump signed two executive orders on immigration. One order excludes specific categories of U.S.-born children from automatic citizenship. The other authorizes visa and entry restrictions aimed at preventing “birth tourism.”

The new orders have a narrower scope than the previous executive order issued after Trump returned to the White House. That earlier order stated that babies born in the U.S. who do not have at least one U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident parent would not receive automatic citizenship. The Supreme Court struck down that order on June 30, ruling that it could not be reconciled with the 14th Amendment.

Trump described the ruling as “very, very unfortunate” and said the new measures address what he called an unfair situation. One order applies to children born to non-citizen parents where at least one parent falls into defined categories: an “alien enemy,” a foreign government employee working for a foreign government while in the U.S., or a person who “engaged in a commercial transaction to purchase or access birthright citizenship.” Children of foreign diplomats are already excluded from birthright citizenship under longstanding interpretations of the 14th Amendment. The new order extends exclusions to the additional listed categories.

The order also restricts birthright citizenship for individuals born to non-citizen parents in U.S. territories or territorial waters where citizenship is not conferred by federal statute, such as American Samoa. Major territories including Puerto Rico and Guam confer birthright citizenship by federal statute. A bill has been introduced in the House to end birthright citizenship for certain territories.

The second order directs the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Homeland Security to create rules preventing foreign nationals from entering the U.S. for “birth tourism” and to remove such persons when necessary.

Trump stated he believes the orders will survive constitutional review. White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller said “birth tourism” has persisted for decades, with individuals entering under visitor pretenses while intending to secure citizenship for a child. Government data recorded fewer than 10,000 births in the U.S. to mothers listing foreign addresses in 2024. An April 2026 Migration Policy Institute analysis estimated annual “birth tourism” births between 22,000 and 26,000 based on census figures. Total U.S. births in 2025 were estimated at 3.6 million.

Republican legislators earlier this year wrote to the Secretaries of Homeland Security and the Interior expressing concerns about Chinese nationals using the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands as a destination for this purpose. During Trump’s first term, a 2020 State Department rule permitted denial of tourism visas to applicants with reason to believe they intended to travel for birth tourism. A 2022 Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs minority report stated the rule increased difficulty for related companies to operate.

Border czar Tom Homan stated in April that birth tourism involving nationals of Russia and China presented a national security concern. The Migration Policy Institute analysis noted that birth tourism remains limited in scale relative to overall births.

The orders are expected to face legal challenges. Cody Wofsy, deputy director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s Immigrants’ Rights Project, stated that the Supreme Court’s June ruling settled the issue and that further executive action attempting to alter birthright citizenship would face the same outcome. Sen. Alex Padilla of California said the 14th Amendment’s text on birthright citizenship is clear. Sen. Ruben Gallego of Arizona said the Court’s ruling left no room for debate.

Some immigration law observers have noted that the current orders’ focus on narrower categories, such as children of alien enemies and foreign government employees, aligns with historical exclusions already recognized in citizenship jurisprudence. These categories differ from the broader approach in the prior order struck down in June, which may affect the constitutional analysis applied by courts. Children of foreign diplomats have long been treated as outside the scope of automatic citizenship under the 14th Amendment’s jurisdiction clause. Similar reasoning has been applied in contexts involving enemy aliens during periods of conflict.

Trump’s first-term administration implemented the 2020 visa restriction on suspected birth tourism. Data on enforcement outcomes under that rule remain limited in public records. The new orders do not alter existing statutory citizenship grants for major territories or change the treatment of children with at least one U.S. citizen or permanent resident parent.