Trump signs orders to limit US birthright citizenship

US President Donald Trump has signed two executive orders to crack down on birth tourism and limit the number of people eligible for birthright citizenship, weeks after the Supreme Court struck down his directive in this regard.  "We had a very unfortunate decision in the Supreme Court concerning birthright. It was ⁠close, but a very, very unfortunate decision," Trump said of the 6-3 vote. "People are building businesses around it," ‌he said. "That's not the ​way it's supposed to work. It's a disgrace," he said.

.@POTUS: "We had a very unfortunate decision in the Supreme Court concerning birthright [citizenship]... so we're making adjustments."

President Trump is signing two Executive Orders to protect the meaning and value of American citizenship after Trump v. Barbara:

— The first… pic.twitter.com/NGSNNuzM0h

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) August 6, 2026

One order signed by Trump on Thursday targets people who engage in commercial “birth tourism” by seeking to deny them access to the country. The other expands the definitions of people that it states are ineligible for birthright citizenship, such as children of foreign citizens who lobby on behalf of foreign governments. Limiting birthright citizenship has been one of the top priorities in the Republican president's crackdown on immigration, ‌with the White House taking particular aim at what it calls "birth tourism," in which pregnant foreigners travel to the United States to give birth.
After his June 30 setback in the Supreme Court, Trump called on Congress to act, ‌but on Thursday he opted for executive orders, which set policy but are not legally binding. The court said Trump's earlier effort to restrict birthright citizenship was unconstitutional. The administration argues the new directive does not fall within the limits of the Supreme Court ruling, allowing it to expand who would be considered ineligible for birthright citizenship, including those who would arrive for "birth tourism" purposes.  "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 Center for Immigration Studies, which supports ​lower levels of immigration, estimated in an analysis in 2020 that between 20,000 to 25,000 mothers came to the US for birth tourism in a year-long period between 2016 and 2017. There were 3.6 million births in the US in 2025.