Trump Renews Push to Restrict Birthright Citizenship
Executive Order Targets Long-Standing Interpretation of Fourteenth Amendment Amidst Legal Challenges
Image: Eddie Pollard / AI
Sarah Connor
Donald Trump announced a second attempt to restrict birthright citizenship by executive order.
This new order follows a previous attempt struck down by a 6-3 Supreme Court decision; multiple federal appeals courts had already called the initial order unconstitutional.
John Roberts, in the Supreme Court's June decision, stated Trump's first order violated the 14th Amendment, asserting that "Citizenship, then and now, was the right to have rights – to freely participate in our political community."
Citizenship, then and now, was the right to have rights – to freely participate in our political community.
Roberts added that "The framers of the 14th amendment extended that promise to 'every free-born person in this land'. We keep that promise today." The majority held that children of temporarily present parents are citizens regardless of how “momentary and uncertain” their parents’ presence.
The first executive order targeted children of foreign diplomatic staff in the United States and U.S. territories. This scope covered approximately 150,000 babies born annually to undocumented or temporary-visa parents.
The Supreme Court's June decision in Trump v. Barbara reaffirmed the Fourteenth Amendment and invalidated the January 20, 2025 Executive Order on birthright citizenship.
Stephen Miller claims the new orders will ensure that large numbers of people who wrongly would be getting birthright citizenship will no longer be eligible for those benefits.
However, 32 other nations, including Brazil, Argentina, and Mexico, grant citizenship based on birth within their borders, a practice known as "jus soli."
The White House fact sheet claims the administration "continues to guard against" citizenship fraud "after the Supreme Court's decision."
This action draws parallels to Joe Biden's response to the Supreme Court striking down his student loan forgiveness plan. Biden pivoted to new executive actions like the SAVE plan.
Both Trump and Biden find it easier to sign new executive actions than to admit their plans were not legal.
Separately, the US currently tracks nearly 54,000 immigrants through GPS-enabled ankle monitors as part of an ICE electronic surveillance program.
ICE has also started detaining people in public places at airports, such as ticket counters or near gates.
Beyond the legal debate, John Eastman, who advanced false claims about the 2020 presidential election, was disbarred in April based on evidence related to those claims.