President Donald Trump signed two executive orders on August 6, 2026, aimed at limiting birthright citizenship and banning birth tourism in the United States [1, 2, 3]. One order broadens the definition of non-citizen parents whose US-born children are ineligible for automatic citizenship. It specifically targets members of foreign terrorist groups, foreign government employees, fraudsters, and residents of US territories without federally guaranteed citizenship [1, 3, 4].

The second order instructs the State and Homeland Security departments to strengthen enforcement and tighten regulations against pregnant foreign nationals traveling to the US primarily to give birth for citizenship purposes, a practice known as birth tourism [1, 3, 5]. White House advisor Stephen Miller said, "But the real reason they're here is to have a child, to make that child an automatic citizen..." and added the ban takes effect immediately [1, 6].

Trump criticized a June 30 Supreme Court ruling that blocked his prior 2025 order restricting birthright citizenship by a 6-3 majority. He called the ruling "very unfortunate" and said, "They’ve taken birthright citizenship and they’ve made a joke out of it" [1, 3, 7]. Trump's previous executive order sought to exclude children of undocumented immigrants from citizenship but was struck down due to constitutional protections under the 14th Amendment [1, 8].

Birthright citizenship currently applies to nearly all children born on US soil, including in territories like Puerto Rico, where citizenship derives from federal statute [1, 4]. Legal experts and advocacy groups warn the new executive orders could face similar legal challenges, as the Constitution guarantees citizenship at birth [8, 6, 7]. University of California Davis law professor Gabriel Chin said, "Once a child is born in the US, the president has no authority to decide that child is not a citizen" [9].

Estimates of birth tourism births vary. The Migration Policy Institute calculates between 22,000 and 26,000 annual births due to birth tourism, while official US government data shows about 9,600 births to mothers with foreign addresses in 2024. Trump alleges the practice is widely abused by foreign agents, including adversaries like Russia and China, to exploit citizenship laws, a claim disputed by some experts [1, 3, 10, 9, 11].

The use of executive orders to limit birthright citizenship has been a key element of Trump's immigration policy since before his presidency began in January 2025 [10, 7]. At the signing, Trump declared, "This should have happened years ago, but we're taking care of it now" [1].

The administration is expected to implement enforcement measures immediately, though legal battles challenging the orders are likely to unfold in the coming months.