Trump Signs Executive Orders Cracking Down on Birthright Citizenship
7th August 2026
Every such order that he signs involves his opponents in time and trouble and expense. And he has made it clear that he’s going to keep trying to fix the problem as long as he remains President. (Sound familiar? It’s the same trick Democrats have used since Wilson.)
President Donald Trump signed two executive orders on Thursday aimed at limiting birthright citizenship, after the Supreme Court in June struck down his previous order restricting the policy.
“We had a very unfortunate decision in the Supreme Court concerning birthright [citizenship]… so we’re making adjustments,” Trump said in the Oval Office.
Birthright citizenship is the practice of the babies of noncitizens receiving citizenship if they are born in the United States. The Supreme Court’s majority opinion in Trump v. Barbara, authored by Chief Justice John Roberts and issued on June 30, stated that the citizenship clause of the 14th Amendment requires all children born within the United States to automatically qualify as citizens at birth.
Trump’s first executive order, signed on Thursday, identifies certain categories of children of noncitizens who are not entitled to birthright citizenship. The White House says those categories are consistent with historical exceptions recognized by the Supreme Court.
The second order directs the secretaries of state and homeland security to end the practice of birth tourism, when a foreign national travels to the U.S. for the purpose of giving birth to a child and obtaining citizenship for that child. In recent years, Chinese nationals have hired surrogates to give birth to their children on U.S. territory.
“People are building businesses around it, from—wealthy people are building businesses around birthright citizenship. That’s not the way it’s supposed to work. It’s a disgrace,” Trump said. They’re buying their way in, and we’re not going to let it happen.”