What to know about Trump’s new attempt to limit birthright citizenship
PBS News Hour – Politics — 2026-08-08 10:39:00 — www.pbs.org
Trump Exaggerates Scope of “Birth Tourism” as Administration Moves to Restrict Birthright Citizenship
President Donald Trump has once again moved to limit who can become an American citizen, issuing executive orders this week that seek to restrict birthright citizenship and target foreigners who give birth in the United States. The new orders come just months after the Supreme Court struck down a previous attempt to limit birthright citizenship, a decision Trump acknowledged, saying the latest orders were made with “adjustments” to keep the ruling in mind.
Despite the Supreme Court setback, Trump pressed forward, introducing narrower orders that focus on specific categories of people. These include children born to adults with connections to foreign embassies or organizations, as well as anyone considered an “alien enemy” of the United States. The orders also seek to disqualify babies born as a result of “birth tourism” and children of parents tied to groups designated as terrorist organizations.
Exaggerated Claims About “Birth Tourism”
A key claim made by Trump in support of these orders is the scale of “birth tourism.” On Thursday, the president stated, “I’ll tell you right now, hundreds of thousands, OK? Hundreds of thousands,” referring to the number of birth tourism cases. However, this figure is not supported by available data. Experts say Trump’s estimate is a significant exaggeration. According to Colleen Putzel-Kavanaugh, an associate policy analyst at the Migration Policy Institute, “The hundreds of thousands just seems like an overestimate based on the sort of limited data that we have available.”
Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that in 2024, nearly 9,600 children were born to foreign mothers with an official address outside the country. Even the Center for Immigration Studies, a think tank that advocates for lower immigration, estimated that only 20,000 to 26,000 birth tourists come to the U.S. each year—far short of the “hundreds of thousands” claimed by Trump.
Legal and Constitutional Challenges Ahead
Trump’s executive orders are expected to face legal challenges, especially given the Supreme Court’s previous decision upholding the 14th Amendment’s guarantee of citizenship to anyone born on U.S. soil, with limited exceptions. The new orders attempt to expand those exceptions, but advocates and legal experts argue that the Constitution and Supreme Court precedent will likely prevent these changes from taking effect.
Conclusion
President Trump’s renewed push to restrict birthright citizenship is marked by exaggerated claims about the prevalence of “birth tourism” and a continued effort to narrow the definition of who can become an American. As legal challenges loom, the administration’s latest actions highlight an ongoing drive to reshape U.S. immigration policy, even in the face of constitutional and judicial barriers.