Washington, Aug 7: President Donald Trump has renewed his push to curb birthright citizenship, signing two executive orders aimed at narrowing who can automatically become a US citizen by birth, despite the Supreme Court recently rejecting his broader attempt to end the long-standing constitutional right.
One executive order expands the list of non-citizens whose children would not qualify for automatic US citizenship. It applies to cases where one parent belongs to a foreign terrorist group, works for a foreign government, has tried to obtain US citizenship through fraud, or lives in a US territory where citizenship is not granted under federal law.
The second order targets “birth tourism,” the practice of pregnant women travelling to the United States to give birth so their children receive US citizenship. Trump said the measure was long overdue, accusing foreign nationals of exploiting America’s immigration system.
“This should have happened years ago, but we’re taking care of it now,” Trump said at the White House, criticizing the Supreme Court’s refusal to back his earlier effort to abolish birthright citizenship, a right protected under the 14th Amendment for more than 150 years.
The White House claimed the administration was acting to prevent foreign actors from abusing US laws. Trump and senior officials have repeatedly argued that birth tourism allows adversarial countries, including Russia and China, to exploit American citizenship rules.
Trump claimed hundreds of thousands of children have been born in the US through birth tourism. However, figures from the nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute paint a much smaller picture. The institute estimates that between 22,000 and 26,000 babies are born annually through birth tourism, while government data recorded about 9,600 births in 2024 to mothers with foreign addresses.
White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller defended the move, saying some visitors falsely enter the US as tourists with the real intention of giving birth. He argued that their children later gain access to benefits and other rights reserved for US citizens.
Miller said the president has authority under the Immigration and Nationality Act to restrict birth tourism by setting limits on who may enter the country.
Trump first sought to end birthright citizenship shortly after returning to office in 2025 through an executive order. That effort was blocked by the Supreme Court, which reaffirmed constitutional protections under the 14th Amendment. The new orders represent a narrower attempt to achieve parts of the same objective. (Source: BBC)
People’s News Monitoring Service
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