Trump again tries to limit US birthright citizenship with new executive orders

What the report says

Donald Trump has issued two new executive orders aimed at limiting access to U.S. birthright citizenship, according to BBC World News. The orders were signed on Thursday in Washington, after the Supreme Court earlier rejected his previous effort to end the long-standing policy. One order broadens the categories of non-citizen parents whose children would not qualify for automatic citizenship, while the other seeks to ban so-called birth tourism, where pregnant visitors travel to the United States to give birth.

The BBC reports that the first order targets babies born in the U.S. to two non-citizen parents in certain cases, including when one parent is linked to a foreign terrorist group, employed by a foreign government, or accused of fraudulent attempts to gain citizenship. The administration says the steps are meant to address what it describes as abuse of U.S. generosity by foreign actors. Trump argued from the Oval Office that the Supreme Court had made the issue harder, but that his administration was pursuing a different route.

The policy fight is part of a broader immigration agenda in Trump’s second term. The BBC notes that birthright citizenship is rooted in the 14th Amendment and has been a major legal flashpoint. A legal scholar quoted by the broadcaster said the president may have some authority to restrict entry for birth tourism, but that determining citizenship after a child is born would raise serious constitutional questions.

The issue matters because it could affect how citizenship is defined for children born in the U.S. and could trigger another court challenge, following Trump’s earlier defeat at the Supreme Court.