August 13, 2026

Legal Alert

Two Executive Orders Issued Following the Supreme Court Decision in Trump v. Barbara Guaranteeing the Right to Birthright Citizenship

On August 6, 2026, the President made a second attempt to limit the constitutional right to birthright citizenship, just weeks after the Supreme Court rejected his initial bid to deny U.S. citizenship to the children born to undocumented immigrants and temporary foreign residents. The President stated that the Supreme Court decision in Trump v. Barbara (Trump v. Barara, 609 U.S. __ 2026), 25-365, was “unfortunate” and therefore he issued two executive orders meant to rectify the error of the Supreme Court.

The two Executive Orders expanded the definition of children ineligible for automatic U.S. citizenship and banned ‘birth tourism’; that is the practice of some women entering the United States solely and exclusively for the purpose of giving birth to a child in the United States who would be considered a U.S. citizen by operation of law at birth and therefore able, at some future time, to transit U.S. citizenship to other family members. State Department immigration regulations already bar individuals who travel to the United States under the guise of tourism intending to give birth in this country.

Some exceptions to the citizenship clause of the 14th amendment have encompassed children born to foreign diplomats, children of occupying foreign forces, children born on foreign ships and the children of indigenous Americans.  The order would also deny birthright citizenship to children whose parents “engaged in fraudulent activity to obtain citizenship”.

It is expected that these Executive Orders will be challenged in federal court soon and could land on the Supreme Court docket again next year.   Since the Supreme Court had already decided the issue of birthright citizenship in its 6-3 decision earlier this year, it is doubtful that it will agree with any attempts by the administration to carve out exceptions to its decision and interpretation of the constitution. 

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If you have any questions or would like to discuss, please reach out to a member of the Tarter Krinsky & Drogin Business & Corporate Immigration Practice.