Trump Signs Orders Targeting Birthright Citizenship and Birth Tourism

President Donald Trump has signed two executive orders targeting birthright citizenship and "birth tourism." The White House stated the orders aim to restrict eligibility for citizenship granted to children born in the United States. This move comes after the U.S. Supreme Court previously rejected Trump's initial effort to curtail the constitutional guarantee of birthright citizenship.

Trump has consistently prioritized dismantling the principle of birthright citizenship as a key component of his immigration agenda. The new orders expand the definition of children deemed ineligible for birthright citizenship and seek to prohibit "birth tourism." The president asserted on Thursday that hundreds of thousands of people engage in this practice.

However, estimates regarding the prevalence of birth tourism differ. The Migration Policy Institute suggests a census-based estimate of 22,000 to 26,000 babies born annually on U.S. soil to mothers visiting for this purpose. Government data from 2024 indicated only 9,600 births to mothers with foreign addresses.

Notably, Trump's own father, Fred Trump, was born a U.S. citizen to a non-citizen mother who was five months pregnant upon her arrival in New York.

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birth tourism is practiced by hundreds of thousands of people.