Trump Renews Push to Restrict Birthright Citizenship in United States

WASHINGTON: U.S. President Donald Trump has renewed his effort to restrict birthright citizenship, signing two executive actions aimed at limiting automatic U.S. citizenship for certain children born in the country and curbing so-called “birth tourism.”

The latest measures come despite a June 2026 Supreme Court ruling that rejected Trump’s earlier attempt to broadly limit birthright citizenship and upheld a broad interpretation of the constitutional principle.

According to the executive order reported by The Associated Press, the new initiative is narrower than Trump’s previous order. It seeks to limit automatic citizenship for children born in the United States in specific circumstances, including those whose parents have connections to foreign embassies or organizations, those considered “alien enemies,” and cases involving parents who allegedly engaged in fraudulent activity to obtain citizenship.

A second executive action targets what the administration describes as “birth tourism,” under which foreign nationals travel to the United States with the intention of giving birth so that their children can obtain U.S. citizenship. The measure seeks to impose additional restrictions on visas for visitors believed to be entering the country for that purpose.

Trump has argued that birthright citizenship contributes to illegal immigration and that U.S. citizenship should not automatically be granted in circumstances he considers abusive. He said he believed the new measures would withstand constitutional scrutiny, despite the Supreme Court’s recent ruling against his earlier initiative.

The issue remains highly contentious. Immigration advocates and constitutional law experts maintain that the 14th Amendment guarantees citizenship to virtually all people born on U.S. soil, subject to limited exceptions. The American Civil Liberties Union has warned that the latest measures are likely to face renewed legal challenges.

Birthright citizenship has been a central component of Trump’s broader immigration agenda during his second term. His administration first sought to end the practice through an executive order issued on his first day back in office, but the measure was blocked by lower courts before the Supreme Court rejected the administration’s effort in June.

The debate also extends to birth tourism. The Migration Policy Institute has estimated that approximately 26,000 births annually could fall into that category out of roughly 3.5 million births in the United States, indicating that the practice represents a relatively small share of total U.S. births.

Trump’s renewed initiative is therefore expected to trigger further legal challenges, potentially setting the stage for another confrontation over the constitutional and statutory foundations of birthright citizenship in the United States.