Trump Signs Executive Orders Targeting Birthright Citizenship and Birth Tourism

President Donald Trump is once again attempting to limit birthright citizenship in the United States through new executive orders. This comes just weeks after the Supreme Court struck down his prior effort to end the long-standing policy.

The first executive order broadens the criteria for non-citizens whose children born in the U.S. would not be eligible for automatic citizenship. This includes children of members of foreign terrorist groups, foreign government employees, individuals who have attempted to gain citizenship fraudulently, or those residing in U.S. territories where citizenship is not automatically granted by federal statute.

The second order directly addresses “birth tourism,” a practice where expectant mothers travel to the U.S. with the intention of giving birth to secure U.S. citizenship for their children. Trump criticized the Supreme Court’s earlier decision, stating, “This should have happened years ago, but we’re taking care of it now.”

Homeland security advisor Stephen Miller explained the rationale, stating that individuals pretend to be tourists but their primary purpose is to have a child who will become an automatic citizen, gaining access to welfare and other rights. Miller asserted that the president has the authority to ban such practices under immigration law.

However, legal experts raise questions about the scope of these orders. Professor Gabriel Chin of UC Davis School of Law suggested that while restricting entry for birth tourism might be possible, the president likely lacks the power to deny citizenship to a child already born on U.S. soil, a point seemingly settled by the Supreme Court’s recent ruling. Data from the Migration Policy Institute suggests that the number of births related to birth tourism is significantly lower than Trump’s claims, with estimates ranging from 22,000 to 26,000 annually.

This latest move represents a continued effort by the Trump administration to reshape immigration policies and limit access to citizenship for those born in the U.S. to non-citizen parents.

Source: Nile Post