Trump Signs Executive Order Targeting 'Birth Tourism' After Supreme Court Defeat
Key Takeaways
- •President Trump signed an executive order on Thursday specifically targeting the practice of birth tourism, where foreign nationals travel to the U.S. to give birth so their children obtain citizenship.
- •A June Supreme Court ruling rejected Trump's earlier attempt to broadly restrict birthright citizenship, upholding the principle established under the Fourteenth Amendment.
- •The new order represents a narrower strategy that focuses on birth tourism rather than challenging the constitutional guarantee of birthright citizenship itself.
- •The Fourteenth Amendment's citizenship clause has served as the foundation for automatic citizenship since 1868 and was affirmed by the Supreme Court in the 1898 case United States v. Wong Kim Ark.
- •Trump was joined by Stephen Miller, described as the architect of his immigration policy and current White House Deputy Chief of Staff, at the Oval Office announcement.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Thursday aimed at targeting "birth tourism," the practice of foreign nationals traveling to the United States to give birth so their children obtain American citizenship, CNN reported.
The move follows a June Supreme Court ruling that rejected Trump's earlier attempt to restrict birthright citizenship. The Court ruled that birthright citizenship, established under the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, is constitutional, effectively blocking his previous executive order on the matter. The Fourteenth Amendment's citizenship clause, which states that "all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens," has been the foundation of automatic citizenship since its ratification in 1868 and was affirmed by the Supreme Court in the 1898 case United States v. Wong Kim Ark.
The new order signals a narrower approach after the broader bid to end birthright citizenship was blocked, focusing specifically on the birth tourism subset rather than the constitutional principle itself.
"We're cracking down very big ... big crackdowns," Trump said during a press conference held in the Oval Office. He was joined by Stephen Miller, identified as the architect of Trump's immigration policy and current White House Deputy Chief of Staff.
"This will give us the right to do it in a much more forceful manner," Trump continued. "They've taken birthright citizenship, and they're making a joke out of it."
The president expressed frustration with the Supreme Court's decision, stating that he had expected a different outcome. "I thought we were going to win it at the Supreme Court; unfortunately we had a bad decision, a very unfair decision, our country suffers because of it," he said.
Trump also repeated his assertion that the United States is nearly alone among nations in granting automatic citizenship to those born on its soil. "We're the only country of size, just about the only country period that does birthright citizenship," he said.
Trump on Birthright tourism: So we're cracking down very big, very big, big crackdowns pic.twitter.com/PYwCvtG0ng — Acyn (@Acyn) August 6, 2026
