Trump signs new executive orders targeting Birthright Citizenship after the Supreme Court rejection

On August 6, 2026, President Donald Trump signed two new executive orders targeting birthright citizenship, just five weeks after the Supreme Court struck down his initial, broader attempt. The new directives seek to ban commercial birth tourism and expand the categories of individuals ineligible for automatic citizenship, including children of foreign lobbyists and government employees. Civil rights groups, including the ACLU, immediately condemned the orders as unconstitutional attempts to bypass the Supreme Court's 14th Amendment ruling and promised swift legal challenges.

New birthright citizenship orders

• ▪President Donald Trump signed two new executive orders on August 6, 2026, in a narrower attempt to restrict birthright citizenship and ban commercial birth tourism.
• ▪President Donald Trump stated in the Oval Office on August 6, 2026, that the administration was making adjustments following a very close and unfortunate Supreme Court decision.

Supreme Court rejected first attempt

• ▪Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, and Neil Gorsuch dissented from the June 30, 2026 decision, arguing the 14th Amendment does not protect birth tourism.
• ▪Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the Supreme Court majority that the 14th Amendment's promise of citizenship extends to every free-born person in the land, including children of temporary or undocumented parents.
• ▪The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6-3 on June 30, 2026, that President Donald Trump's initial 2025 executive order attempting to end birthright citizenship was unconstitutional under the 14th Amendment.

Birth tourism ban

• ▪The Migration Policy Institute estimates birth tourism accounts for 22,000 to 26,000 births annually, while the Center for Immigration Studies estimated 20,000 to 25,000 births between 2016 and 2017.
• ▪White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller stated that President Donald Trump has the authority to ban birth tourism under the Immigration and Nationality Act.
• ▪One of the August 6, 2026 executive orders directs federal agencies to target commercial birth tourism operators and deny entry to individuals seeking to engage in the practice.

Expanded ineligibility categories

• ▪The second executive order signed on August 6, 2026, seeks to deny birthright citizenship to children of foreign government employees, foreign lobbyists, alien enemies, and terrorist group members.
• ▪The executive order targeting citizenship eligibility also excludes children born in U.S. territories where citizenship is not conferred by federal statute, which currently only applies to American Samoa.

Expected legal challenges

• ▪Deborah Fleischaker of UnidosUS and Zain Lakhani of the Women's Refugee Commission criticized the orders as unconstitutional attempts to evade the Supreme Court's ruling that threaten pregnant women's rights.
• ▪The American Civil Liberties Union condemned the new executive orders on August 6, 2026, predicting they would fail in court because birthright citizenship is a constitutional guarantee.