The Supreme Court handed Trump a loss. But that isn’t stopping him.
Now Donald Trump went after birthright citizenship in a major move no one saw coming.
President Donald Trump signed two new executive orders Thursday taking fresh aim at birthright citizenship and the practice of “birth tourism,” pressing forward with a signature immigration priority weeks after the Supreme Court blocked his earlier attempt to limit automatic citizenship under the Fourteenth Amendment.
Speaking from the Oval Office, Trump made clear he considers the high court’s ruling a temporary setback rather than the final word, framing the new orders as a targeted response built to withstand legal scrutiny while closing what he described as a loophole exploited by foreign nationals and the businesses that profit from it.
A President Undeterred By The Supreme Court
“We’re making adjustments because it’s very unfair,” Trump said. “They’re building businesses around birthright citizenship. That’s not the way it was supposed to work. It’s a disgrace. They’re buying their way in, and we’re not going to let it happen.”
Trump did not mince words about the Supreme Court’s earlier decision, calling it “very unfortunate,” but voiced confidence that the retooled approach would hold up if challenged in court. Asked directly whether the orders would survive litigation, Trump replied simply, “I think it will.”
The president also promised aggressive follow-through on enforcement. “We’re cracking down very big, very big, big crackdowns… this will give us the right to do it in a much more forceful manner,” he said.
White House Details A Two-Pronged Crackdown
White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy Stephen Miller laid out the substance of the orders, which officials say are built on existing executive and immigration authorities rather than a fresh constitutional challenge. Miller said the first order widens the categories of people the administration deems ineligible for automatic birthright citizenship, including “alien enemies of the United States, members of foreign terrorist organizations, and large categories of people who lobby and act on behalf of foreign governments.”
The second order, Miller said, marks an unprecedented step: “for the first time ever in American history to ban birth tourism.” Citing Section 215(a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, Miller said the administration will deny visas to travelers seeking to give birth on U.S. soil purely to secure automatic citizenship for their children, along with those who organize such trips. He did not soften his language describing the practice, calling birth tourism “by definition, a fraud on the American system” and “a fraud against the American government.”
White House Staff Secretary Will Scharf said the administration built the orders around visa denials and law enforcement action against organized birth tourism operations specifically to avoid conflicting with the Supreme Court’s earlier ruling, describing the approach as resting on “legally validated means.”
An Immigration Fight Far From Over
The White House had not released the formal text of either order as of publication, and did not immediately respond to a request for additional comment. The move is the latest chapter in a fight Trump has waged since his first term over the scope of the Fourteenth Amendment’s citizenship clause, and it comes as his administration continues an aggressive push on immigration enforcement more broadly — including new State Department warnings that foreign nationals convicted of drunk driving could face swift removal.
Democrats and immigration advocacy groups are likely to challenge the new orders in court, setting up what could become another high-stakes battle over the limits of executive authority on immigration heading into the fall.
