Democrats Furious as Trump Signs Two Executive Orders to End Birth Tourism
President Donald Trump signed two executive orders aimed at tightening restrictions on birthright citizenship in the United States. These orders target “birth tourism,” where foreign nationals travel to the U.S. to give birth and secure citizenship for their children. The orders seek to prevent children born to parents with certain foreign ties, including those involved in birth tourism schemes or connected to foreign organizations and terrorists, from automatically gaining American citizenship. trump emphasized his belief that the 14th Amendment was originally intended to grant citizenship to children of freed slaves and that current practices are exploited for financial and political benefits. The orders also aim to restrict citizenship for children born when the parents engage in certain commercial activities or when parents are in the country under specific circumstances, such as legal or diplomatic status. Democrats and civil rights groups criticize these measures as unconstitutional and likely to be challenged in court, with many asserting that the 14th Amendment guarantees birthright citizenship regardless of the circumstances. Critics argue that the orders represent an overreach and undermine established legal interpretations.
President Donald Trump signed two executive orders on Thursday that take another pass at reining in birthright citizenship, including banning “birth tourism.”
In June, the Supreme Court, in a 6-3 ruling, took an expansive view of the 14th Amendment’s language, which provides, “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.”
On his first day in office, Trump issued an executive order banning birthright citizenship, which would have the effect of ensuring that the children of illegal immigrants who are born in the United States are not automatically granted American citizenship.
The president pointed to the language that children must be born to parents “subject to the jurisdiction” of the U.S. (i.e., not citizens of foreign nations in the country illegally) for their children to be American citizens.
The majority of the Supreme Court held otherwise and struck down Trump’s executive order.
Trump told reporters on Thursday at the White House that the court’s ruling was a “very, very unfortunate decision, so we’re making adjustments.”
.@POTUS: “We had a very unfortunate decision in the Supreme Court concerning birthright [citizenship]… so we’re making adjustments.”
President Trump is signing two Executive Orders to protect the meaning and value of American citizenship after Trump v. Barbara:
— The first… pic.twitter.com/NGSNNuzM0h
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) August 6, 2026
Trump argued that the purpose of the 14th Amendment was to ensure that the children of the newly freed slaves following the Civil War would be both U.S. citizens and citizens of the states in which they lived.
“What’s happening now is … wealthy people are building businesses around birthright citizenship,” he added.
His action to stop it, he said, is “a big deal,” according to The Washington Times.
The president signed two executive orders. One precludes children born to those in the U.S. with connections to foreign embassies, foreign organizations, or when either parent is an “alien enemy” such as those who belong to designated as foreign terrorist organizations.
It also bans citizenship for children “when the parent(s) of the person engage in a commercial transaction to ensure that the person’s mother is present in the United States, or a territory of the United States, to give birth.”
The second order specifically denies citizenship to children of parents who participated in “birth tourism” schemes.
“Birth tourism operators use deceptive advertisements and inducements to entice foreign nationals to travel to the United States for the purpose of giving birth on American soil,” the order states.
“The immigration laws of the United States establish discrete categories of temporary nonimmigrant visas to allow foreign visitors into the United States for study, exchange, temporary employment, tourism, and other transitory activities that are now exploited by birth tourism operators,” it states.
White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller elaborated on Thursday, saying the 14th Amendment had no other meaning outside the purpose of ensuring the children of slaves were recognized as citizens.
🎯 Ensuring large amounts of people who WRONGLY get birthright citizenship will no longer be eligible.
🎯 Taking action to BAN birth tourism.@StephenM explains President Trump’s bold and impressive record on securing our borders and protecting the value of American… pic.twitter.com/hizsT4BGyw
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) August 6, 2026
“The idea that people come here, pretending to be a tourist … but the real reason they are here is to have a child, to make that child an automatic citizen, leave our country and then have a U.S. citizen child that gives them access under this broken system to welfare benefits, ultimately to the voting booth and all the other rights and privileges that belong soley to Americans,” he said.
Democrats were predictably furious at the president’s action.
Oregon Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden, for instance, blasted Trump as “unhinged.”
“For nearly 160 years of U.S. history, courts and common sense have viewed the plain language of the 14th Amendment with a reading that’s completely contrary to Donald Trump’s unhinged and uninformed take,” he said in a statement, according to the Statesman Journal of Salem, Oregon.
“I expect that long-settled view to prevail again over yet one more Trump scheme to somehow decree into being his perverse obsession with illegally yanking away the citizenship of children born here in America.”
In an interview with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, Illinois Democratic Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, a native of India, claimed Trump’s actions targeted “immigrants in general.”
Democrat Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi on Trump’s new effort to crackdown on birth tourism and birthright citizenship: “I’m an immigrant myself, so this is personal to me. These executive orders are unconstitutional.” pic.twitter.com/PxLEwIQW4H
— TheBlaze (@theblaze) August 7, 2026
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer called the move “blatantly illegal,” according to The Washington Times.
“Trump has just set himself up for yet another loss in the courts. Democrats will challenge this order, and we will win,” he said, according to the newspaper.
The Associated Press reported that the left-leaning American Civil Liberties Union, which sued to block Trump’s previous executive order from taking effect, predicted these two will also be struck down.
“The Supreme Court already decided this issue: Birthright citizenship is guaranteed by the Constitution. No additional executive order can change the meaning of the Constitution. Any executive order that tries to rewrite birthright citizenship will meet the same fate as the last one,” said Cody Wofsy, deputy director of the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project, in a Thursday statement.
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