WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. President Donald Trump has signed two new executive orders aimed at restricting birthright citizenship and curbing so-called “birth tourism,” renewing a controversial immigration policy weeks after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected his administration’s earlier attempt to limit the constitutional guarantee.
The orders, signed on Thursday, seek to expand the categories of children who would not automatically qualify for U.S. citizenship at birth and direct federal agencies to intensify enforcement against individuals and organisations facilitating birth tourism.
The move marks the latest effort by the Trump administration to narrow the scope of the 14th Amendment, which guarantees citizenship to nearly everyone born on U.S. soil.
Speaking at the White House, Trump criticised the Supreme Court’s earlier ruling, describing it as disappointing.
“It was close, but a very, very unfortunate decision,” Trump told reporters. “So we’re making adjustments because it’s very unfair.”
The first executive order proposes expanding existing exceptions to birthright citizenship.
Historically, exceptions have applied to children born in the United States to foreign diplomats, occupying foreign forces and certain other narrowly defined categories.
Under the new directive, the administration seeks to extend those exceptions to include children born to members of foreign terrorist organisations, certain individuals acting on behalf of foreign governments, and people whose parents allegedly obtained citizenship through fraudulent means.
The order also proposes broadening the category of foreign government personnel whose children would not qualify for automatic citizenship and references births in U.S. territories where citizenship is not conferred by federal statute.
The second executive order targets birth tourism—the practice of travelling to the United States primarily to give birth so a child acquires American citizenship.
Trump claimed the practice had become widespread, arguing that businesses had emerged to facilitate such travel.
“They’ve taken birthright citizenship and they’ve made a joke out of it,” he said. “People are building businesses around it. That’s not the way it’s supposed to work.”
The order directs federal agencies to identify and take action against operators arranging birth tourism, although travelling to the United States under false pretences to obtain citizenship for a child is already prohibited under existing U.S. immigration laws.
Available estimates suggest the practice represents only a small fraction of births in the country.
According to the Migration Policy Institute, census-based estimates place the number of babies born annually through birth tourism at between 22,000 and 26,000, while official government data recorded about 9,600 births to mothers with foreign addresses in 2024—less than one per cent of all births in the United States.
The latest directives are widely expected to face immediate legal challenges.
In June, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected Trump’s earlier executive order seeking to deny automatic citizenship to children born to undocumented immigrants and certain temporary visa holders, reaffirming that the Constitution protects birthright citizenship for nearly everyone born on American soil.
Civil rights organisations have already vowed to challenge the new measures.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) argued that the President cannot alter constitutional protections through executive action.
“The Supreme Court already decided this issue: birthright citizenship is guaranteed by the Constitution. No additional executive order can change the meaning of the Constitution,” said Cody Wofsy, Deputy Director of the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project.
The administration maintains the new orders address categories it believes fall outside the protections of the 14th Amendment, setting the stage for another legal battle over one of the most contentious issues in U.S. immigration policy.
