Trump moves to ban 'birth tourism' and restrict birthright citizenship

Trump moves to ban 'birth tourism' and restrict birthright citizenship

President Donald Trump signed two executive orders on Thursday, August 6, 2026, in a renewed effort to limit birthright citizenship and eliminate what he described as the practice of birth tourism.

The actions follow a June Supreme Court ruling that rejected the president's previous attempt to declare that children born to people in the U.S. Illegally or temporarily are not American citizens. While that ruling upheld a broad interpretation of the 14th Amendment, Trump described the decision as very unfair and unfortunate, arguing that the amendment's citizenship clause was intended only for the babies of slaves following the Civil War.

New Restrictions on Citizenship

The first executive order is narrower in scope than the previous one struck down by the Supreme Court. It aims to expand the categories of people ineligible for automatic citizenship. According to the order, birthright citizenship will no longer apply to:

• Children born to adults with connections to foreign embassies or additional foreign government personnel.
• Children born to parents deemed alien enemies, defined as those belonging to foreign terrorist organizations.
• Children whose parents engaged in fraudulent activity to obtain citizenship or entered into a commercial transaction to purchase or access birthright citizenship.
• Children born in U.S. Territories or territorial waters where federal law does not confer citizenship.

Legal experts have questioned the validity of these restrictions. Kevin R. Johnson, a UC Davis law professor, noted that the only conventionally accepted exception to birthright citizenship is for children of foreign diplomats who are not subject to U.S. Jurisdiction. Similarly, Ernesto Sagás, a politics and immigration expert at Colorado State University, described the move to eliminate citizenship in U.S. Territories as an underhanded attempt to override statutory citizenship established by the 1940 Nationality Act and the 1917 Jones-Shafroth Act, asserting that only Congress has the power to overturn those laws.

The Ban on 'Birth Tourism'

The second executive order targets individuals who use nonimmigrant visas to give birth in the U.S. Trump told reporters in the Oval Office that wealthy people are building businesses around birthright citizenship and that they are buying their way in.

Stephen Miller, the White House chief of staff for policy, called the order especially historic. Miller claimed that some visitors pretend to visit national parks or Disneyland while their true intent is to secure U.S. Citizenship for a child, which he said grants access to voting and welfare benefits.

Enforcement of the ban falls to the secretaries of State and Homeland Security. However, Professor Johnson questioned the feasibility of the order, asking how the government would enforce a ban absent an admission of intent, and suggesting the policy could be open to abuse when discerning if a parent traveled for better health care versus birth tourism.

Competing Data and Legal Outlook

The administration has characterized birth tourism as a widespread problem, with Trump claiming it is practiced by hundreds of thousands of people. However, the Migration Policy Institute (MPI) provides lower figures. According to a 2026 MPI article, the highest census-based estimate puts birth tourism at 22,000 to 26,000 babies born annually, while government data showed only 9,600 births to mothers with foreign addresses in 2024.

MPI also noted that seeking a visa specifically to obtain citizenship for a child is already considered fraud and grounds for visa restriction. Previous administrations have also pursued prosecutions against schemes that helped women hide pregnancies while traveling to the U.S.

Legal challenges are expected. Cody Wofsy, deputy director of the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project, stated that any executive order attempting to rewrite birthright citizenship will meet the same fate as the last one because the guarantee is enshrined in the Constitution.

The conflict reflects a deeper divide over the 14th Amendment. In June, while the Supreme Court blocked Trump's first order in a 6-3 vote, the legal reasoning was split. Five justices stated that birthright citizenship is enshrined in the Constitution, but Justice Brett Kavanaugh rejected the order on the basis that federal law—rather than the Constitution—conveys the right.