US President Donald Trump signed two executive orders on Thursday aimed at restricting birthright citizenship.
The orders target the commercial birth tourism industry and aim to deny citizenship to children born in the United States as a result. This includes children born to mothers who enter the country expressly and deceptively for the sole purpose of using birth-tourism centers, including the use of surrogate mothers.
The measures also target children born to foreign diplomatic staff working on behalf of another government in the United States. Additionally, the orders target children of people classified as alien enemies, which includes those belonging to federally declared terrorist groups.
Legal challenges and administration stance
The U.S. Supreme Court previously struck down a broader executive order signed by Donald Trump on his Inauguration Day, which sought to deny automatic citizenship to those born of noncitizens in the U.S.
Donald Trump told reporters that he believed the new orders were legal despite that Supreme Court ruling. A White House staffer stated during the unveiling event that there was 'absolutely nothing' that would run 'afoul' of the recent court ruling.
The U.S. administration argues that the Supreme Court ruling still grants the president authority to limit birthright citizenship under longstanding exceptions recognized by the court.
Implementation and oversight
A second executive order directs the U.S. Secretary of State and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) secretary to issue rules and guidance to stop birth tourism.
The U.S. House Oversight Committee is investigating birth tourism centers and requested documents from a company called 'Have My Baby in Miami' in May. The committee expressed concerns that the birth tourism industry, involving expectant mothers traveling predominantly from China and Russia, poses potential national security and election integrity threats.
The benefits of U.S. citizenship are a unique privilege.
— US House Oversight Committee
Republicans argue that birth tourism is a massive source of fraud. Estimates of the number of children resulting from birth tourism range from the low thousands to the tens of thousands.
Policy context
Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social on March 30 that birthright citizenship is not about people from China and the rest of the world who want their children to become citizens for pay.
Stephen Miller, the architect of Donald Trump's deportation program, was present at the ceremony where the orders were unveiled.
The executive orders may apply to those born in U.S. territories, such as Puerto Rico, if Congress changes the law to end automatic citizenship there.
If birth tourism is a problem, the answer is to enforce that regulation.
— Amanda Frost, University of Virginia immigration law professor
Updates
The White House has expanded the scope of the executive orders to include members of foreign terrorist organizations and foreign government lobbyists as ineligible for birthright citizenship, with Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller claiming the second order constitutes the first-ever U.S. ban on birth tourism — though he cited Section 215(a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act to label it fraud, while government data recorded 9,600 such births in 2024, far below Trump’s claim of hundreds of thousands and the Migration Policy Institute’s estimate of 22,000–26,000 annually.
The White House now expands the scope of the executive orders to include members of foreign terrorist organizations and foreign government lobbyists as ineligible for birthright citizenship, with Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller claiming the second order is the first-ever U.S. ban on birth tourism—though government data shows only 9,600 such births in 2024, while the president cites hundreds of thousands, and the Migration Policy Institute estimates 22,000–26,000 annually.
The White House has expanded the scope of birthright citizenship restrictions to include members of foreign terrorist organizations and foreign government lobbyists, with Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller claiming the second order marks the first-ever U.S. ban on birth tourism — though government data recorded only 9,600 such births in 2024, while the Migration Policy Institute estimates a high of 26,000 annually, contradicting Trump’s claim of hundreds of thousands.
The White House has expanded the scope of the executive order to include members of foreign terrorist organizations and foreign government lobbyists as ineligible for birthright citizenship, while also announcing a first-ever ban on birth tourism; officials now deny visas to both individuals seeking to give birth in the U.S. for citizenship purposes and those who organize such trips, alongside extending social media profile checks to foreign journalists and certain Mexican and Canadian nationals — a move tied to broader visa screening reforms, though the administration’s claim of hundreds of thousands practicing birth tourism contradicts government data showing only 9,600 such births in 2024
The White House has expanded the scope of the executive order to include members of foreign terrorist organizations and foreign government lobbyists as ineligible for birthright citizenship, while also banning birth tourism for the first time in U.S. history, according to Stephen Miller, who cited Section 215(a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act and called it 'a fraud on the American system'; additionally, visa applicants—including foreign journalists, Mexicans, and Canadians—will now face expanded social media profile checks, and foreign journalists’ stays may be limited to 240 days under pending rules.
The White House has expanded the scope of the executive orders to include members of foreign terrorist organizations and foreign government lobbyists as ineligible for birthright citizenship, while also announcing a first-ever ban on birth tourism itself — a move contradicted by government data showing only 9,600 such births in 2024, despite Trump’s claim of hundreds of thousands, and experts labeling the phenomenon marginal compared to over 250,000 annual births to undocumented or temporary residents.
