Donald Trump signed orders restricting birthright citizenship, decades after his own grandmother arrived in New York five months pregnant

President Donald Trump signed two executive orders Thursday aimed at narrowing eligibility for birthright citizenship and cracking down on birth tourism, marking a fresh push in his second-term immigration agenda. The move comes about a month after the Supreme Court rejected his administration’s earlier attempt to limit the birthright citizenship guarantee found in the Constitution. As detailed by The Guardian, Trump called the prior ruling “very unfortunate” during remarks at the White House.

Trump argued the orders were necessary to address what he called an unfair system that has let foreign nationals profit off automatic citizenship. “We’re making adjustments because it’s very unfair,” he said, adding that some people have been “building businesses around birthright citizenship.” Asked whether the orders would face further legal challenges, the president said, “I think it will.”

White House officials said the directives rely on existing executive and immigration authorities to narrow who qualifies for automatic citizenship while also targeting foreign nationals who travel to the country specifically to give birth. Stephen Miller, the White House deputy chief of staff for policy, said the first order expands the categories of people considered ineligible for birthright citizenship, including alien enemies of the United States, members of foreign terrorist organizations, and people who lobby on behalf of foreign governments.

Trump’s own family history complicates the birthright push

The second order targets birth tourism specifically, which Miller described as the first time in American history an administration has moved to ban the practice outright. Under the new policy, the government will deny visas to people who seek to enter the United States intending to give birth and secure automatic citizenship for the child, a policy that also extends to those who organize such trips. Miller cited Section 215(a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, calling birth tourism “by definition, a fraud on the American system.”

Trump said the administration would pursue “very big crackdowns” on organized birth tourism operations, arguing the new orders give officials broader authority to act. The signing arrived the same week Trump made headlines for an unrelated reason, when he praised a lawn care company for redoing the White House lawn free of charge. White House staff secretary Will Scharf said the birth tourism order combines visa denials with law enforcement action, and argued the administration is relying on legally validated means that do not conflict with the Supreme Court’s ruling.

The actual scale of birth tourism remains disputed. Trump told reporters the practice involves hundreds of thousands of people, but the Migration Policy Institute’s highest census-based estimate puts the number at 22,000 to 26,000 babies born on U.S. soil annually, and government data show just 9,600 births to mothers with foreign addresses in 2024.

The push arrives against an unusual backdrop for Trump’s own family. His father, Fred Trump, was born a U.S. citizen to a noncitizen mother, and records show his grandmother arrived in New York while five months pregnant.

The administration is also navigating separate legal battles this week. As reported by Fox News, a federal judge paused a lawsuit deadline that would have forced Trump to turn over financial records tied to his business empire.

As of Thursday, the White House had not released the full text of either executive order.