New executive orders revive Trump’s effort to limit birthright citizenship despite a recent Supreme Court ruling affirming constitutional protections.
Outside of Trump World, there’s a glaring line between the “try, try again” thinking of those passionate about an outcome and the bone-headed, stubborn hatred for immigrants reflected in Donald Trump’s issuance of new executive orders restricting Birthright Citizenship.
Inside the insular White House, there seems to be only one rule – to embody Trump’s oft-changing whims, never mind law, practicalities, expense, regulations or complications for the many who will be affected. Just make it happen.
For most of us, the line comes with law, even if there are arguments about morality, decency or empathy. But the two executive orders handed down Thursday to limit “birth tourism,” as if that is understandable or appropriate, come mere weeks after the Supreme Court told Trump that the Constitution does guarantee that with exceptions for diplomats, birth on U.S. soil guarantees automatic citizenship.
In issuing his executive orders to expand those exceptions, Trump even used the very same, rejected arguments as justification, and threw in made-up numbers as well to characterize births in the U.S. as an underhanded invasion by undocumented migrants. Trump insists that the birthright provision only was meant historically to deal with the status of post-Civil War slaves, a finding that failed at the Supreme Court.
What makes Trump think that him repeating the same, only louder and accompanied by a pan of the Supreme Court justices, will have a different outcome?
Murky Executive Orders
If Trump wants to change the Constitution, there is a process, unwieldy yes, but one that requires two-thirds of the states to sign on, not just a swipe of a Sharpie in Trump’s gilded Oval Office. Even the concurrence by Justice Brett Kavanaugh laid out a way for Congress to pass federal law exemptions, but Trump shunned that too.
He simply wants to be the one to decide this and all other matters of law, science, climate, health care and sexual mores and choices. That, too, is reflected in the glare of the bright light of stubbornness. Just yesterday, by coincidence, a judge told Trump he had to stop his ballroom project for exactly the same reason – taking the law into his own hands. He will appeal to the Supreme Court, of course, to allow him to do just that.
Even enforcing these new orders on birthright is problematic.
The new rules would restrict those who could qualify for birthright citizenship to exclude children of staff working for foreign governments but serving in the United States, and the babies of mothers who lie about their intentions for visiting the country while pregnant. A third category governing the status of those born in U.S. territories, would require congressional action.
The second order directs federal agencies to target “birth tourism operators” who arrange such travel to the US.Such travel already constitutes “visa fraud” and is illegal, again raising questions about the practical implications of the new order beyond its political value.
How is Trump planning to determine who is a “tourist” and who is a “birth tourist” who is lying about the reasons for visiting the U.S.
Presumably, the only effective tool will be to bar all pregnant visitors – whose ranks are in the “hundreds of thousands,” according to Trump, despite studies showing only tiny percentages of births annually to visitors. Trump offered what he said were examples of individuals claiming scores of children.
As The New York Times noted, any renewed effort to prevent new classes of people from having babies in the U.S. granted citizenship would invite fresh rounds of litigation, including challenges on who counts as “alien enemies” and invading armies — categories that lower court judges have already rejected in separate cases involving the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration policies. Immigration law bars discrimination in the issuing of immigrant visas, almost certain to rise as a claim here.
What’s the Point?
That Trump wants to limit the guarantee of birthright citizenship is not new, nor is his derision of justices that would rule against him. Trump said he would ask the justices to reconsider the decision, but the deadline for doing so has passed without Trump taking action.
Instead, Trump is following the same track as he did with global tariffs, an issue that the Supreme Court also struck down. Rather than heed the court’s ruling, Trump invented new justifications for tariffs using different sections of law. The new tariffs, in effect now, are being challenged by a new lawsuit from a coalition of state attorneys general.
When prospects looked dimmer for confirmation of his personal lawyer Todd Blanche as attorney general, Trump insisted he would keep Blanche in the job and ditch the confirmation process. As Trump has found he lacks votes in the Senate to adopt his voter restriction legislation, he has stubbornly gone ahead and just summarily limited voting himself by pushing sudden redistricting efforts and threatening to keep the Postal Service from delivering mail ballots in Democratic states.
If neither the legal nor practical concerns are advancing, what is Trump doing besides abusing the power of his office to show us how powerful he sees himself? What lesson is there here besides recognizing an autonomous, authoritarian White House that wants to issue its own laws without oversight or question?
Frequently Asked Questions About Birthright Citizenship
What is birthright citizenship?
Birthright citizenship generally grants U.S. citizenship to people born in the United States under the Citizenship Clause of the 14th Amendment.
Can a president end birthright citizenship by executive order?
The Supreme Court’s June 30, 2026 decision rejected the Trump administration’s effort to exclude children born in the United States based on their parents’ immigration or temporary-resident status.
What did the Supreme Court rule about Trump’s birthright citizenship order?
In Trump v. Barbara, the Court concluded that the Citizenship Clause covers children born in the United States even when their parents are unlawfully or temporarily present.
What is “birth tourism”?
The term generally refers to traveling to another country while pregnant with the intention of giving birth there, sometimes to obtain citizenship rights for the child.
“FREEDOM OF THE PRESS IS NOT JUST IMPORTANT TO DEMOCRACY, IT IS DEMOCRACY.” – Walter Cronkite. CLICK HERE to donate in support of our free and independent voice.
