Trump signs executive orders targeting birthright citizenship
Summary
U.S. President Donald Trump signed two executive orders on Thursday targeting birthright citizenship and birth tourism in Washington. The White House said the orders expand who is ineligible for birthright citizenship and ban birth tourism. Trump has made limiting birthright citizenship a top immigration priority after a previous effort was rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court in June. No U.S. law outright bars birth tourism, but a 2020 federal regulation already prohibits using certain tourist and business visas for that purpose.
Key Facts
- The article says there are no official figures on how many foreigners come to the U.S. specifically to give birth and seek citizenship for their children, or on the cost to taxpayers.
- The Center for Immigration Studies estimated in 2020 that between 20,000 and 25,000 mothers came to the U.S. for birth tourism during a one-year period between 2016 and 2017.
- The U.S. recorded 3.6 million births in 2025.
- People who engage in birth tourism schemes could be prosecuted for fraud or other related crimes.
President Donald Trump speaks during an executive order signing ceremony in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, Aug. 3. EPA-Yonhap
WASHINGTON — U.S. President Donald Trump signed two executive orders on Thursday that the White House said expands the definition of people who are ineligible for birthright citizenship and bans "birth tourism."
Limiting birthright citizenship has been one of the top priorities in the Republican president's crackdown on immigration.
An earlier effort by Trump was rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court in June, prompting him to call upon Congress to act. No U.S. law outright bars birth tourism, but a federal regulation implemented in 2020 during Trump’s first term prohibits using temporary tourist and business visas for the primary purpose of obtaining U.S. citizenship for a newborn. People who engage in birth tourism schemes could be prosecuted for fraud or other related crimes.
There are no official figures tallying the number of foreigners who come to the U.S. for the explicit purpose of giving birth and obtaining citizenship for their children, or the cost to taxpayers.
The Center for Immigration Studies, which supports lower levels of immigration, estimated in an analysis in 2020 that between 20,000-25,000 mothers came to the U.S. for birth tourism in a year-long period between 2016-2017.
There were 3.6 million births in the U.S. in 2025.
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