Trump administration issues executive orders targeting birth tourism and diplomatic births

The White House issued two executive orders on Thursday that would narrow the automatic citizenship granted under the 14th Amendment to certain categories of newborns. One order seeks to deny citizenship to children born to parents employed by foreign embassies, the United Nations or other international bodies, while the other targets babies born to individuals classified as "birth tourists" or members of groups the administration designates as terrorist organizations.

Under existing immigration law, children of accredited foreign diplomatic officers are already excluded from birthright citizenship. The new orders would expand that exemption to a broader range of foreign-government employees and to parents linked to groups such as Antifa or Tren de Aragua.

Law professor César Cuauhtémoc García Hernández of Ohio State University questioned how the government would identify children of members of designated terrorist organizations, noting the lack of publicly available membership lists. He also said the orders addressing surrogacy raise novel legal questions because the Constitution and Supreme Court precedent do not mention surrogacy.

The orders define "birth tourism" as entering the United States on a non-immigrant visa with the purpose of giving birth. While birth tourism is already considered visa fraud, the new language would give immigration officers broader discretion to deny entry to pregnant women suspected of this purpose. President Trump claimed the practice involves "hundreds of thousands" of cases, a figure that migration experts said appears to exceed available data.

Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed about 9,600 children were born in 2024 to foreign mothers with an address outside the United States, and a think-tank estimate placed annual birth-tourism cases between 20,000 and 26,000. The orders also criticize "birth tourism operators" for allegedly using deceptive advertising to attract foreign nationals, though no evidence of the scale of such operations was provided.

White House staff secretary Will Scharf defended the orders, saying they rely on legally validated tools and do not conflict with Supreme Court rulings. Civil-rights groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union, warned that the 14th Amendment guarantees birthright citizenship and that executive actions cannot override that protection. Legal challenges to the orders are anticipated.